Black Smoke
by Scarlette Smith
Summary: Young Justice AU. Wally West is sent to a small town to retrieve a deadly new Cadmus weapon: biotech chips that give an outside source control of your brain. Artemis Crock is an ex-con on the run from her father, one of her many actions to hide dangerous technology that she stole from him, the very same technology that Wally is looking to retrieve.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice (This disclaimer applies to the entire story)**

* * *

 _ **Prologue**_

 _Something in your eyes was so inviting  
_

 _Something in your smile was so exciting_

 _Something in my heart told me I must have you_

* * *

Artemis Crock banged on the door to her cell, knowing fully well that Wally could hear her. She knew that it was hopeless but the blonde archer couldn't stop, she _had_ to get through to him, she _needed_ to.

"Please, Wally," She asked, her firsts pounding on the door, "Please! Just open the door!"

The abrasive silence between them cut through her. How could somebody she had been so close to shut her out so quickly?

Artemis kept pounding on the door, "Godammit! I know you can hear me and I swear to you, I didn't do it! I didn't! God fucking damnit, why don't you believe me?!" She snapped, hitting the door full force with her open palms. The motion seemed to tired her out, the vibrations of the futile effort echoing through her very core. She stumbled back, panting and staring at the heavy, metal door with a kind of longing, a kind of despair that she had never known before, "Wally…" She said softly, "You can believe me or not but just know, that I didn't do it. I didn't steal those biotech chips. I didn't betray you... Wally…" The next words came out with the kind of delicacy scientists use handling nuclear bombs. They were soft, careful, and in their own way, very afraid, "I love you. I would never lie to you like that," She walked back up to the door, only this time she didn't hit it, just very softly pressed her palms to the hardened metal, "Please. Just let me out,"

* * *

 **Chapter One will be out tomorrow, just kind of leaving you on edge for right now :3  
**

 **Review?**


	2. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.**

 **Hey guys! So I know this is really different from my other Spitfire fanfic (Chained) but I recently got back into YJ and wanted to give it a shot.**

 **I anticipate it to be about 15 chapters, give or take, but full of action. Keep in mind that this is an AU so some things will be different than the canon YJ storyline.**

 **Hope you like it! :)**

* * *

 _ **Chapter One**_

 _But with all my education_

 _I can't seem to command it_

 _And the words are escaping_

 _And come back all damaged_

* * *

 _Mount Justice. September 1st 2015. 10:03 A.M._

Wally West sighed happily as he consumed his 20th pancake, laying back in his chair happily as M'Gann bustled around in the kitchen before him. Next to her, Superboy was covered in batter, which M'Gann was playfully licking it off.

"That was the best ever!" Wally declared, licking the syrup happily off of his fingers, "What can I say Megalicious, you make the best pancakes,"

"Nah," Nightwing, sitting right next to him, disagreed, "I'm gonna have to say that's Alfred's title. Right Robin?" He asked, addressing his younger brother.

The newest Robin looked up at the two, "Yeah but Alfred has the best everything when it comes to the food department,"

The speedster had to pause and consider this for a moment. Robin and Nightwing had a point. Alfred had _awesome_ pancakes and well… awesome everything, "Eh. You have a point-"

Just then their debate was cut off as an announcement went through the cave, quickly catching everybody's attention. God, Wally hoped it was a mission. He hadn't had one in weeks and it was making him seriously restless.

"Aqualad, Nightwing, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and Superboy report to the control room,"

 _Yes!_ That definitely meant a mission, "Finally!" He responded, sitting up and running into the control room, "A mission!"

The screen lit up before him as the rest of the team walked into the room, Batman's stoic expression illuminating the television, "Team. We have a mission for you. Recently it has come to the league's attention that Cadmus designed a biotech chip that, when planted, offers an outside source remote control of your mind. Although it's unclear exactly who is in possession of it, we received an anonymous tip that it's located in a small town in Wisconsin, called Farmer's Grove," A picture of the town popped up on the screen. It was cute, small, and quaint, with a few people milling around on the sidewalks outside the shops, "We need two of you to go undercover, find whoever has it, arrest them, and retrieve it. The rest of you can stay here and help with the mission from abroad-"

"I'll go!" Wally volunteered quickly. He'd be damned if he had to stay here another week. It was summer break and he personally wanted to live it up before he had to go back to Stanford in the fall.

"So will I," Nightwing volunteered, much to Wally's surprise… Undercover missions weren't really Dick's style. Sensing his best friend's wonderment, the former boy wonder shrugged, "What? Someone's gotta keep you in line…" He smirked at Wally, who only responded with an eyeroll.

"The rest of you can stay here," Batman finished, "I need to talk to Kid Flash and Nightwing alone. I'll discuss your part of the mission with the rest of you later,"

Realizing their dismissal, the rest of the team disbanded, going off in their own directions. Nightwing and Wally exchanged a devious grin. While the mission was still just that- a _mission,_ it was going to be a lot of fun for the pair of best friends, who hadn't gone on a mission together for the past year.

Turning towards his best friend, Wally taunted him with a smirk, "I'm going to totally find the Cadmus chips before you!"

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 1st 2015. 10:03 A.M._

"Shit!" Artemis Crock exclaimed as she glanced at the clock, "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"What is it?" Her roommate, Zatanna Zatara asked from the other room, "Artemis?"

"I'm late for work!" She groaned, rolling out of the bed. 10:03… Had she really slept all the way to _10:03?_ , "I was supposed to be there at 9:45!"

"Crap," Zatanna said, walking over to the doorway of Artemis's room. The entire bedroom was a mess, boxes of the blonde's belongings strewn across it haphazardly, "Have you seriously not unpacked all the way yet? You've been living here for like a month,"

"Don't have time," Artemis responded simply as she tied her blonde hair back in a ponytail, "I've been working day and night,"

The brunette in the doorway furrowed her brow worriedly, "I don't charge that much for rent, do I?"

"No, it's not that. It's…" Artemis sighed, the words escaping her, "How about this? I'll unpack tonight,"

"Sounds good," The magician responded, a small smile on her lips, "And hey, tell your boss it was my fault. That I locked you in or something,"

"Honestly, I doubt that would work on him but thanks," She responded, walking into her room and grabbing a white apron that read " _Rocket's_ " on it, "I'll text you, okay?"

"Sure," Zatanna said, "See you later?"

"Definitely," The archer agreed, smiling at her roommate before heading out, "See you soon!"

Artemis all but bolted out of the apartment, down the stairs, and around the corner to _Rocket's._ Crap. 30 minutes of work lost. At this point, Artemis needed all of the money that she could get. She was supposed to pick up her new fake ID today and needed to get her bow restrung if she wanted to use it tonight.

For the past year, Artemis had grown accustomed to life on the run, staying in places three weeks to six months at the max. She couldn't stay in one place for too long, that made the possibility of her father tracking her all the more probable and if he found her, that meant that he would find the suitcase. If her father got ahold of the technology within that suitcase… Well... Things would not be looking good for the archer… Or the rest of the the world.

She sprinted into the bar, clocking in quickly, "Hey Augustus,"

Augustus owned the bar but regularly came into work. He didn't trust anyone else with managing it, saying that he knew how to work it best. Her boss was a tall, built man with dark skin. His black hair was short and cropped. Artemis had never seen his eyes, for he was always hiding it behind sunglasses.

"Good morning, Artemis," He responded, "You're late,"

"I know," She responded, sliding into the bar, "I overslept. I'm sorry. It won't happen again,"

Augustus didn't give any sign of forgiveness and simply responded with, "Racquel is taking inventory. Switch with her in about an hour,"

Artemis nodded and sighed as he walked away. God, she hated dong inventory. It was hours upon hours of counting the types of beers, whiskeys, wines, and various other liquors they had, among the types of foods the _Rocket's_ offered.

"Hello," She said, turning to regard the bars first patron, "Welcome to _Rocket's._ What can I get you?"

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 1st 2015. 9:43 P.M._

As Wally took a bite into his third burger, he decided that he liked Farmer's Grove already.

The speedster had arrived a few hours ago, by travel of the bioship, and quickly migrated to the first restaurant (Small towns always had the _best_ food) he could find: a tiny joint named _Rocket's_ and it was _ah-mazing._

"Enjoying yourself?" His waitress, a young, dark skinned girl with a short haircut asked him.

"You bet!" Wally responded, grinning at her, "Any chance I could get a fourth?"

She laughed, "Sure. I'm about to head out actually but that girl..." She pointed towards a girl with a thick, blonde ponytail who was bringing someone food, "... Can take the rest of your order for you,"

"Sounds good, thanks," He responded, winking at her. It was understandable that she'd leave, the redhead had been here for quite some time.

"No problem," His waitress, _Racquel,_ responded, walking off into the back. A few moments later, the blonde he had seen earlier appeared in front of him.

"Welcome to _Rocket's,_ " She greeted eagerly, "I'm Artemis. I'll be taking over for Racquel, she had a previous arrangement. Is there anything else I can get you?"

Wally surveyed her carefully. She had thick, long blonde hair that was pulled into a ponytail. Her eyes were brown but had tiny specs of green littered within them. As he took a good look at her face, he concluded that she was probably of some sort of Asian descent. Wally had to hand it to her, she was pretty good looking.

"Not unless you're on the menu," He responded suavely, taking a sip of his drink.

However, instead of inciting the normal giggle it would have, all he got was a huff and, "Are you serious?"

"What?" He asked innocently, "It was a joke. And a pretty bomb pick up line,"

The waitress, Artemis, huffed and crossed her arm, glaring down at him, "Yeah, well, I didn't think it was funny,"

He glared up at her. Geez, what was with this chick? All of his pick up lines were jokes and if she wasn't interested, she could have very easily have just said so and carried on. She didn't have to be so mean about it, "You don't have to be so rude about it-"

"I'm being rude about it?" She said incredulously, "You're the one who used one of the crappiest pick up lines ever on it!"

"Yeah, well, you're the one being a total bitch about it!"  
"Oh, _that's it_ -"

She was cut off a large, built man put his hand on Artemis's shoulder, "Artemis," He reminded gently, "Linda just came in. You've worked overtime three days this week. You should head home today," His tone had a finality to it of a superior. This must have been her boss.

Suddenly, Wally felt a pang of guilt. Sure, she was obnoxious but he hadn't meant to get in trouble.

"Of course, Augustus," Artemis said, turning and heading towards the back.

"Now," The man said, turning towards Wally, "What can I get you?"

* * *

 _Madison, Wisconsin. September 1st 2015. 11:30 P.M._

"You should have seen him, Z!" Artemis snapped as she pulled her arrow back and aimed it at the robber, trapping him in a cloud of black solid, "He was so obnoxious! And so ungh, so _annoying!"_

 _"Tel mih nwod!"_ Zatanna chanted, releasing the robber safely to the ground, " _Eit mih!"_ With a flick of the wrist, the robber was tied down to the ground, unable to move, "Sounds like it. What did you say his name was?"

"I don't even know," Artemis said as the two made their way to the nearest rooftop, "Do you see his partner anywhere?" She asked, quickly changing the subject and motioning towards the robber on the ground below them.

The two roommates regularly patrolled Madison, a large city about half an hour from Farmer's Grove, for criminal activity. That was how the two met. Artemis had been patrolling on her own as Tigress and saved from attack by Zatanna. The two immediately started patrolling together and became fast friends. Zatanna lived a vagabond lifestyle too and, in that way, the two understood each other. They didn't ask the other questions about the past or get curious. There was a silent agreement between them not to dwell into that territory, an agreement that Artemis appreciated.

"No. Damn it! He probably got away," Zatanna answered, biting her lip, "Here. We'll track him down. He can't be that hard to find… I'll go North and you go South,"

"Sounds good. We can rendezvous here once we've caught him," Artemis said, adjusting her Tigress mask, "I'll see you soon," She sprinted off towards the South, bow and arrow raised as she slowly patrolled. God, she loved this, she loved the rush, the thrill, of being on patrol, of being a good guy. It was the highest high that she could possibly get. Doing good and helping people, even if it was from the shadows, was so rewarding and so definitely worth it.

She crept to edge of the roof and leaned down, peering into the street. All clear. No one here. Delicately, she tip toed over to the next building. Nothing there too…

 _Maybe Z's having more luck-_

"Freeze!"

The voice boomed into her ear, making Artemis stop in her tracks. She turned slowly, hands in the air. The police weren't behind her but rather a man in a hockey mask watching her every move.

 _Ah. The accomplice._

He was covered from head to toe in black and was aiming a gun at her. His hand was steady, which was the most dangerous part. This man was no stranger to shooting a gun, or shooting it in the field.

"I'd put that down if I were you," The archer bluffed, "Now,"

"I don't plan to," He responded, "Now, I'm going to give you two options. Either you turn around and I put a bullet in your back or you keep facing me and I put a bullet in your chest. Which one would you prefer?"

"Neither-" Before Artemis could finish her sentence, she was swept up in the air by someone. She blinked and was on the opposite rooftop, a yellow and red mask hovering in front of her- _Wait._

 _Did Kid Flash just save my ass?_

"You okay?" He asked, "It seemed like-"

"I had it under control," Artemis countered, in no good mood after her bad night at _Rocket's_.

"Didn't look like it," The speedster smirked, which irritated Artemis to no end, "You know, a thank you might be nice-"

As he spoke, Artemis scanned the area, freezing when she noticed a bomb, headed straight for them, "Move!"

She acted instantly, leaping onto him and pushing him to the side. They landed with her sprawled out on top of him. Thankfully, Kid Flash had noticed the bomb and jumped up, speeding away with Artemis in his arms as the bomb detonated, taking out a the top floor of a building. Luckily, it looked like a storage unit and was devoid of any human life.

"Holy shit!" He exclaimed, "What was that?"

"I don't know…" Artemis responded, "That doesn't happen here. Like at all,"

"Well, I'm glad you spotted it and pushed me out of the way," He winked at her, "Nice landing by the way,"

"Oh shut up,"

He pretended to be hurt, "Sharp tongue you got there, blondie…." He suddenly trailed off, looking at her carefully, "You got a name?"

Artemis paused. Crap. She had to handle this carefully. She doubted that anyone associated with the League would be fans of her, given her upbringing, "Sorry Kid," She said, beginning to back away. There was a balcony four stories down. If she made the jump, she'd be gold, "I don't do names," With that, she turned and ran for the edge, jumping down and landing on the roof. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to outrun Kid Flash, she settled for pressing herself up against the building and hiding in the darkness. She waited until she was absolutely sure that he was gone and crept out, walking towards the rendezvous point with a smile on her face.

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove. September 2nd 2015. 1:00 A.M._

"Hey KF," Dick greeted as Wally walked into their now shared apartment, "How'd the patrolling go?"

"Interesting…" Wally mused, flopping down onto the couch. He couldn't get that archer girl out of his mind. For some reason, the scene of her jumping off the rooftop, fearless and ready for anything, kept replaying over and over in his mind. If only he had gotten her name…

"Interesting?" Dick inquired, not once looking up from his research on the computer screen, "How so?"

"You know, Dick," Wally said, grinning at the ceiling, "I think I'm gonna like it here,"

* * *

 **There we go! Our first actual chapter :P**

 **Please review and tell me what you think? I get hella inspired when I see reviews, so I should update faster if I get some reviews.**

 **Anything that is different or changed in this story as opposed to the canon YJ story will be explained in later chapters, so just hang on tight, bc we're about to go on a wild ride.**


	3. Chapter Two

_**Chapter Two**_

 _Venus, make her fair_

 _A lovely girl with sunlight in her hair_

 _A girl who wants my kisses and my arms_

 _A girl with all the charms of you_

* * *

 _Madison, Wisconsin. September 5th 2015. 3:05 A.M._

"On your left!" Wally shouted, running over to Tigress (As he'd dubbed her) and carrying her out of harm's way before the stink bomb send her way could detonate. He carried her over to a secluded area in the warehouse, hidden by stacks upon stacks of boxes.

"I could have handled it," Tigress grumbled as Wally set her down.

He rolled his eyes, "No. I totally just saved you…"

She huffed and crossed her arms, "Well. What are we going to do about fireball over there?" She asked, motioning towards their flamethrower carrying opponent who was stalking about aside, probably trying to get a view of the young vigilantes.

The speedster paused in thought for a moment. What would they do about him… t, "Okay, I got it," He finally responded after musing to himself, "I'm going to go taunt him. Do you see…" He trailed off, pointing a nearby fire alarm to her, "That?"

"I do now,"

"When he's about to roast me, you aim an arrow at that and set it off. The sprinklers will

diffuse the flames for a moment, long enough for me to trip him up and get under his skin. The alarm will also alert the police who can drag his ass to jail once we're done with him," Kid Flash said, a sly look in his google covered eyes, "Ready?"

"Ready," She responded, pausing for a moment before looking up at him, "Hey… Kid Flash?"

"Hmm?" He asked, prepping himself for a run.

"Just…" There was a sigh, "Be careful,"

Turning to smirk at her, he responded, "Anything for you, sweet cheeks,"

The two had been working together for the past few days. It was inexplicable. Every night during their individual patrolling, they had somehow run into each other. Dick had been staying home every night, reporting back to Batman and researching. A few years ago, it would have struck Wally as strange but now, with the transition from Robin to Nightwing after the whole Zatanna incident, it didn't really bother Wally anymore. It was how Dick fought now except instead of hand to hand combat, he did it through cyberspace.

As far as he could tell, Tigress didn't have a partner. If she did, they must have been a pretty sucky one because Tigress was literally always flying solo whenever Wally found her. Wally still couldn't get a name out of her, even through all of his nagging. He would one day though, he wasn't leaving Wisconsin until he got this mystery girl's name, team be damned.

Speeding off before she could smack him, he stood in front of their opponent. He was large and bulky, hiding behind some sort of mask. In his arms was a flamethrower that had almost torched Tigress a few moments earlier.

"Hey you!" He taunted, "Betcha can't get me!"

Wally sped around as the man turned, startled, torching everything in his midst, "Over here!"

A second later, Wally called out from an entirely different direction, "Or here!"

The speedster did another round, standing in front of his opponent with a smirk on his face.

 _You better pull through on me, Tigress._

"Now I've got you," The Torchbearer (Again, another testament to Wally's naming abilities). He pulled on the flamethrower as Wally ducked, sighing in relief as a ringing erupted through the building and the sprinklers showered water down on them.

It seemed to affect Torchbearer's equipment too, tipping off Wally. That was no regular flamethrower. Most flamethrowers could work in the rain, which made sense, considering that they were often designed to endure rainy, muddy conditions in a battle but this one just… sputtered out. He would have to get Dick to look into it.

"Gotcha!" Wally teased, pausing nervously when he heard sirens in the distance. He didn't want to tip police off to his presence. They would have questions, wondering what he was doing in Madison instead of Central City and Wally was under strict orders to keep the purpose of his visit completely secret from anyone and everyone, and that _included_ the police, "Now, my partner… Er, kind of partner. Whatever, you get it, don't you? Anyways, we gotta split! Have fun in prison!" He said, throwing him a small smirk. With that, he speed up, picking up Tigress and carrying her out of the building.

She held onto him tightly, not complaining about them missing the police. He supposed that she had something to hide too. Maybe that was why she wouldn't tell him her name. Speaking of that…

"So, Tigress, wanna tell me your actual name?" He tried, coming to a stop a few dozen miles away, at an enemy field that lay between Madison and Farmer's Grove.

She scoffed, sliding from his arms onto the ground easily. Wally frowned but quickly covered it up. He kind of liked carrying her, "Not a chance, Kid,"

"Aww, c'mon," He whined, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours,"

"Tempting but…" Tigress hummed, "I don't think so," She suddenly paused, "What time is it?"

Looking at his watch, Wally responded with, "About 4 A.M. Why?"

"Shit!" Her eyes widened through her mask, "I have work in five hours,"

The speedster's brows furrowed together, "Want me to run you back home?" He was a little disappointed. They hadn't really spoken much and she was interesting, to say the least. Wally wanted to get to know her.

"No!" She said quickly, making Wally arch his brow. What was she so intent on hiding, "I mean, thanks but… No thanks. Just run me back to the city-"

"So you live in the city?" Wally asked, prying for something, anything to sate his curiosity.

With an eyeroll, she responded, "No. My car is just there,"

"Oh, you _so_ live in the city," Wally teased.

"Whatever. Can we just get going?"

"Whatever you want beautiful," He responded coyly, picking her up and running back in the direction of the city, "So…" He began as he ran, "Where do you work?"

"Oh, like I'm telling you," She responded, holding onto him a little tighter as they narrowly passed a bump, "Kid!"

"Sorry, Tigress," He apologized, not really meaning it. Honestly, he liked how her grip tightened around him. It filled him with a warm surge of warmth.

They came to a stop where they had met earlier in the day; an empty road in the middle of the Polish part of the city. The apartments were all darkened, flickering lamp lights illuminating the sidewalks poorly as the grey towers stretched into the metropolitan skyline. Tigress and Kid Flash stood out in the pitch black night around them, their costumes splashes of red, yellow, and beige against the darkened night pavement.

"Same time tomorrow night?" Tigress asked jokingly as she headed out towards what Wally presumed was the direction of her car. Despite her lighthearted tone, they'd probably run into each other again tomorrow. Just like they had today, and yesterday, and the day before that…

"You bet!" He responded, meaning it wholeheartedly.

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 5th 2015. 5:30 P.M._

"$22.99," The girl at the checkout counter responded, boredly playing with the tips of her hair.

Artemis groaned, "$23.00? Seriously? All I bought was a gallon of milk and some cold cuts!"

"I don't make the rules _or_ the prices," The cashier responded with a sigh, "Just pay up already,"

The blonde responded by slapping $23.00 exactly onto the checkout stand, "Keep the change,"

She walked to the end and grabbed her bags, heading out the store and towards her house. Today hadn't been shaping up to be a good day at all…

Firstly, she was late for work and had to operate with snobby customers all day. Not to mention that after her little… episode with that redhead a few days ago, Augustus had been watching her closely. She couldn't afford to screw up and somehow that thought exhausted her more than anything else.

Secondly, her car stalled. Of course, she had taken it to a shop to be repaired and it was going to cost her at least two weeks pay. Not to mention that she felt helpless without her circa-200 Toyota Sienna, it had gotten her out of so many situations, and been the only stable thing in her life for so long. Not having it with her made her feel kind of… helpless, in a way. It also meant that she'd have to walk everywhere, which wasn't a problem until Zatanna had told her that they were out of milk and that they only edible thing in their kitchen was some oregano. For some strange reason, Zatanna didn't have a car. She got everywhere extremely fast but was decidedly anti-automobile, not even stepping foot into Artemis's toyota. That simple fact left their only transportation on foot and, since Zatanna was working late (Which she had been doing for the past few days, curiously…), that left Artemis the only available one to pick them up anything of sustenance. Which, seeing as the nearest grocery store was five miles away, did not make her happy.

The only good part of her day had been fighting crime with Kid Flash in the wee small hours of the morning. He was a little… annoying but fun to work had been repeatedly running into each other the past few days and, seeing as no one was with her with Zatanna working late every day, they had teamed up. With no Flash in sight, it looked as if Kid Flash was working alone too. Despite her exhaustion, she planned to meet with him again tonight. She honestly couldn't wait. He was a lot of fun to talk to.

"Hey!" Artemis was torn out of her thoughts as a car pulled up next to her. It was rental, way too nice to be someone's personal car in a town like this.

"Hey?" She answered, uncertainly staring into the car and groaning when she saw who the driver was. That obnoxious redhead. Shit, "Oh, it's you,"

"Hey, Hey," He said, putting his hands up, "I just wanted to apologize,"

This caught her attention. Apologize?, "Huh?"

"I realize that I probably got you in trouble," He began, "And after some contemplation, I guess I can see how my pick-up line probably bothered you. I never meant to get you in trouble or to be disrespectful and I'm sorry that I did. Can we just start again?"

Artemis blinked at him. Wow. That was incredibly mature. Not something she expected from someone who's opening line was an incredibly shitty pick up line. After a moment of silence, she nodded, "Sure. I'm Artemis. Artemis Hunt," She responded, using her fake name. She had ditched Crock a while ago.

He stuck his hand out at her, "Wally. Wally West,"

The archer shook his hand and shifted a little, the gallon of milk being seriously heavy, "Nice to meet you,"

Eyeing her bags, Wally responded with, "Likewise. Hey, you want a ride? I'm not really in a big rush. I could give you a lift,"

Perhaps a few years ago, Artemis would have accepted it but now, after years of being on the run from her father and his strange assassins, she had to decline, "No, I'll be fine, thanks,"

"How far away is your house?"

"Apartment. And it's a good five miles,"

Wally raised an eyebrow, "Just get in. It beats walking,"

"No. Frankly, Wally, I don't even know you very well. I'm not getting into a car with you," She said, crossing her arms and scanning around for an exit. If he made a move, she could get out of there in a few seconds, provided that she found a way out…

"Suit yourself," He responded before sighing, "Listen, I feel bad leaving you out here by yourself with those bags. Let me at least take some and walk you home,"

Artemis stopped to consider it. It didn't sound bad. She'd give him the milk so that, just in case, it would slow him down. There wasn't much he could do without a car…

"Sure," She said, sticking the milk out towards him, "I have a gallon of milk that needs carrying,"

To her surprise, he took climbed out of his car and took both bags, "I got it," He smiled at her, "We should get walking,"

Although she felt a little guilty for making him leave his car behind, she knew that it was for the best. After all, she wasn't new to this and she had to stay safe. Especially when her dad was involved…

"So, Artemis," Wally began as they started walking back to her apartment, "Have you lived here your entire life or… ?"

The question put her a little on edge. Was he a spy? Or sent to collect intel on her?

Using her rehearsed response, Artemis responded, "Actually, no. I'm from Vietnam,"

He raised his eyebrows and whistled, "Vietnam? How was it there?"

"It was really nice. I lived there with my mom. My dad was kind of always… Out of the picture," Yeah. Until she was eleven at least…

"I get it. I don't have a good relationship with my father either," Wally confessed, catching Artemis's attention.

"Where are you from, Wally?" She asked, trying to divert attention from her, "You're new to town,"

"That obvious, huh?" He responded sheepishly.

"Kinda," The blonde grinned, "But hey, don't worry. I only got here a few months ago myself,"

"From Vietnam?"

"I lived in Starling City first," That was partly true but then again, Artemis had lived in many places the past few years, "Then I moved here. I kind of wanted an escape from the city,"

"I can see what you mean… I live in Central City. Er, I do when school isn't in session,"

"What school do you go to?" She asked, looking at him.

"Stanford," Wally replied, earning an approving nod from Artemis. She had gotten accepted into there but had to take off immediately afterwards. Honestly, not going to school was one of her regrets. If her father ever stopped his search of her, she would finish her education before she did anything else, definitely, "You know, I bet I could woo you with my mad scientific skills,"

The archer scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Please. Enlighten me,"

"Babe, do you have eleven protons? Because you're sodium fine!"

Admittedly, that made Artemis laugh a little. Okay, maybe that was a funny one…

Besides her, Wally smirked, "Oh, I got a lot more where that came from,"

"Well, you're going to have to save it for our next meeting," Artemis said, turning to face him, "This is where I must leave,"

Wally pouted, "I don't get to see your apartment?"

"Nope," Artemis said, taking the bags from him, "I have to cut you off here,"

"Fine," He sighed, "Are you working tomorrow?"

"Only if you aren't there,"

"Come on, Artemis," Wally whined, "I promise I won't misbehave. I'll put in a good word for you and everything!"

After a few minutes of pretending to contemplate, Artemis mock-sighed and responded, "Fine. But only if you sit in my section,"

"Scouts honor!" He responded, making a motion of crossing his heart, "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"See you tomorrow," Artemis concluded, turning on her heels towards her apartment, "Bye Wally!"

"See ya Arty!"

With that, the two marched on towards their separate destinations; Artemis towards her house and Wally towards his car, neither of them having any idea that they'd see each other again in a few short hours.

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 5th 2015. 8:55 P.M._

"Nightwing in," Dick said, speaking into his communicator, "You wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes," Batman answered from the other end, "I'm pulling you from this mission,"

The former boy wonder was flabbergasted. Why? He had been doing nonstop research on the

town, on Cadmus, on nanotechnology for their cause. He had been so busy researching that he hadn't even _seen_ the town. It wasn't like he was doing nothing, "What? Why?"

The next sentence made Dick's heart skip a beat, "Zatanna Zatara is in town,"

* * *

 **Yup. I'm going to leave it at that little cliffhanger. Don't worry though. The mystery of Zatanna will soon come to light.**

 **Please review? If you read this and liked it, just leave a comment. If you didn't like it, tell me why. Even you guys, who just sub and favorite (Yeah, I seeee you).**

 **New chapter will be out sometime this weekend.**


	4. Chapter Three

_**Chapter Three**_

 _We are surrounded by all of these lies_

 _And people who talk too much_

 _You've got the kind of look in your eyes_

 _As if no one knows anything but us_

 _Should this be the last thing I see_

 _I want you to know it's enough for me_

* * *

 _Madison, Wisconsin. September 7th 2015. Midnight._

Artemis sighed as she did yet another round on the rooftop she and Kid Flash were perched on top of, "Nothing. I don't see any criminal activity from up here. Just a couple of drunken idiots stumbling their way home," Drunk as they were, they looked pretty harmless, "Anything from your end?"

Next to her, Kid Flash began fiddling with their police monitor, "Nothing. Nada. Zip. Just some drug deals but nothing too major like Vertigo. Just cannabis. It's nothing that the police can't handle by themselves,"

"Maybe we finally get a night off?" She asked, laying down on her back and letting her feet dangle off the edge of the five story building. It was more than a little dangerous but Artemis liked living life a little dangerous. It was probably why life on the run had suited her so much. Life without danger was too boring, although Artemis would be lying if she said that she didn't long for domesticity sometimes but that urge always left as quick as it came. She was only ever destined for a dangerous life and she had accepted it long ago.

"Maybe…" The speedster mused, following her lead and laying down next to her, "Still… A quiet night is never a good sign…"

"No, it's not…" Artemis agreed, staring up at the illuminated sky, "It could mean that the villains are planning something but-"

"We don't have any serious villains here yet. Unless…" He looked at her, their masked eyes locking, "Do you?"

"No. I don't," Artemis answered, "I haven't made any enemies here," Key word being _here,_ "Maybe we should just look at today as a gift, go home, and get some sleep,"

"Let's just stick around for another hour," Kid Flash replied, "Just to make sure that nothing slips through our fingers,"

"Fine," Artemis huffed, truly meaning what she said about getting some sleep. She doubted she'd gotten more than five hours a night this past month, "But just another hour,"

"Just another hour. Got it," He hummed beside her before piping up, "So… While we're up here… You wanna tell me your name?"

She snickered, "Not a chance,"

There was another enjoyable silence as he pouted, "Fine," He huffed, "Hey. So that we don't die of boredom up here, why don't we play a game-"

"No-"

"Let's play 21 Questions!" Probably sensing her oncoming rejection, he added, "No questions about personal identities. Promise,"

The blonde stopped to consider it. Hmm… No questions about her identity? It didn't sound too bad, it was probably harmless. Why not? They had an hour to kill after all, "Sure. You start,"

"Sweet! Anyways, you got a partner? I mean like, other than me,"

"Currently…" She didn't want to rat Zatanna out. For whatever reason, the girl was also on the run and Artemis doubted that it was anything that the Justice League could help out with but hey, he never asked for her name… "Yes. Where's your partner? Or, er, your partners?" She asked, referencing the widely known Young Justice.

"I'm kind of, er, solo at the moment-"

"What do you mean solo-"

"Ah ah ah!" He wagged his finger at her, "My turn, blondie. Why isn't your partner with you?"

"She's…" Artemis trailed off, "I don't know. She's been kind of homebound lately," That was curious… She'd have to ask Zatanna about it in the morning, "My turn. What do you mean by kind of solo?"

"I…" He treaded carefully, giving Artemis the feeling that he wasn't supposed to say much else, "Nightwing and I are temporarily partners,"

 _Is Nightwing here? Why?_

"If you don't give me your name, what should I call you?" He asked, catching Artemis off guard.

"Don't you already call me Tigress?" She asked, dancing around the question.

"Yeah but like a _normal_ name," The speedster answered, "I'll give you one for me… But I can't promise it will be real," Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him wink, "Come on, blondie, give me a _name_ ,"

"Call me… Diana," The Roman version of her name. It was perfect, "Diana, yes,"

"Okay then, _Diana._ You can call me…" There was silence as he thought of a fake name for himself, "Lord Mega-Awesome-"

"I am _not_ calling you that-"

"Then I won't call you Diana. I'll just keep digging and digging until I get your real name,"

The arched rolled her eyes, "Good luck with that," She yawned and stretched out, looking at the glimmering sky above her, "What's your favorite food?"

"Apple pie. What's your favorite color?"

"Green. Favorite movie?"

" _Pulp Fiction_. Do you know any language other than English,"

"Vietnamese," She yawned again, looking at the sky through drooping eyelids, "Do you know constellations?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Tell me about them," She requested, "I don't know anything about them and the skies look so beautiful out here,"

There was a hint of a smile in his voice as he complied, "Of course," His arm shot above her and pointed to the sky above them, "See, that's the little dipper. Everyone knows that one but that one, that's very faint up there. That's Aquarius. See, he was actually so good looking, much like myself, that Zeus invited him to Mount Olympus…"

As he spoke, Artemis felt herself lull to sleep to the sound of familiar sound of his voice, the aura of safety coming from his side pulling her into the vast familiarity of dreamland.

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 7th 2015. Midnight_

Zatanna looked around before turning her attention back to the heavy bag of laundry that awaited her. It was midnight and no one was really around… What was the harm, " _Straigts eth pu,"_ She said, smiling with satisfaction as the bag lifted itself up the stairs and planted itself in front of 2-C, her and Artemis' apartment. Perfect. There was no way in hell she was carrying _that_ three pound thing up the stairs.

"Using magic isn't really laying low, you know,"

The magician spun around, eyes locking on the former boy wonder's face in curiosity, "D-Nightwing?"

Every inch of her wanted to run to him, to collapse and tell him the events of the past few years. How… How _fucked up_ she had gotten, how _fucked up_ everything had become but just as quickly as those urges came, her memories did and they made her want to turn in the other direction and run.

 _"Zatanna… There was an accident,"_

"Any stupid kids walking by could have seen you and reported you," Nightwing responded, staying in the shadow of the stairs, "And then, bam, you would have been done. Finished,"

 _"What? Dick, what happened?"_

Barely taking in his words, Zatanna backed up into the pale moonlight, "Stay down there. Stay down there or I swear I will-"

 _"It was your father," He looked up at her, eyes apologetic even behind his mask, "I'm sorry,"_

"You'll what?" This time, he stepped into the light. His only camouflage was a hoodie worn low over his face, "Run away again? You can't run this time, Zatanna,"

 _She felt her breath leave her chest, "What?"_

"Oh yes, I can," She raised her hands and began chanting, " _Gag mih-"_ But was cut off as he launched himself at her, planting a hand over her mouth and rendering her power useless.

"Zatanna, please…" Now he was asking, borderline begging, "Just hear me out. I don't want to have to do this," He gestured towards his hand on her mouth, "Please. You never even gave me a chance to explain. You just took off,"

She looked at him. Damn it. He was right. She had never told him why she was leaving or even what was going on. He deserved that much at least.

Slowly removing his hand, he began, "Don't make me do that again. Please,"

Taking a breath, Zatanna began, "Come in. I'll make you some coffee but Dick, please," She turned to face him, "Don't tell anyone," _They can't know about me._

* * *

 _Madison, Wisconsin. September 7th 2015. 12:45 a.m._

"... And then Zeus put Aquarius, whose real name was Ganymede fun fact, in the sky for his service. He also gave him eternal…" Wally paused and glanced down at Tigress/Diana, a small smile stretching across his face.

The woman beside him was fast asleep, her breathing coming out in steady, even puffs. It was an endearing sight to see and filled Wally up with a strange sort of protectiveness, along with a strong sort of pride. She trusted him enough to fall asleep around him, was _comfortable_ enough around him to fall asleep and because of that he wouldn't let anything happen to her, wouldn't let anything or anyone _touch_ her in this state. She was comfortable enough around him to fall asleep and that, to him, was an honor. He knew that she was closed up and this small action meant a lot to him.

Kid Flash wouldn't let her stay up here, on this rooftop, in the cold though. No way. She was going to sleep somewhere comfortable tonight. Hey, Dick said he was going to be out tonight. Something about Batman and intel. He didn't even know… Maybe he could take Diana/Tigress over to their place? She could sleep in his bed. Beside, it's not like she was a baddie or anything. And besides, Dick never had to know...

Gently picking her up, Kid Flash leapt off of the building, holding her to close to make sure that she wasn't injured, and sped off towards _Farmer's Grove_. It was a good 45 minute drive from the city but Wally ran to it in five. The little cabin he and Dick were renting was right on the edge of the town. It was made out of wooden logs and concealed by trees. Their driveway was a good half mile long with a "no trespassing" sign strewn across the entrance. Wally hopped it and continued towards small, two bedroom cabin. He paused to unlocked it and walked towards his bedroom in the back of the cabin.

It was tiny, maybe only ten feet long and five feet wide. It only fit his bed and a clothing rack that had his civvies and suits hung on it. His bed was a twin and covered in yellow and red Flash merchandise (Hey! He had to show support for his mentor _somehow_ ), something that Wally was avidly proud of.

He set the blonde down on the bed, gently putting a comforter on her. He propped her bow and arrow against the door and quickly scribbled a note so that he didn't end up with an arrow thru his chest in the morning.

 _Hey Diana!_

 _Well. You fell asleep and it was really cold on that building, so I took you to my place. Er… My temporary place. Don't tell anyone!_

 _I'm going to probably be asleep when you wake up but don't hesitate to wake me up if you're hungry or something._

 _Don't worry, I didn't take off your mask or anything. I just thought you would freeze on that rooftop and decided to let you sleep in my comofortable as fuck bed. Nice, huh?_

 _See you in the morning… Well, I guess, good morning because you're going to be reading this in the morning._

 _Kid Flash_

 _P.S. I can't run you to your place tomorrow because it'll be broad daylight and that's risky but I'll give you a ride. I'll have to hide my face but it's better than walking._

 _P.S.S. Don't eat the Lucky Charms. Those things are mine._

Satisfied with his note, Wally left it on the bedside table. Taking one last look at her, he shut off the lights and headed into the living room. Plopping down on the couch, Wally turned on the T.V. and began watching the first thing he could find ( _Fast and the Furious 5)._

 _God, I wish I knew her real name… She seems like she'd be fun to hang out with._

As the speedster drifted off to bed, his thoughts danced with thoughts of Diana, sweetening his dreams and in turn, his slumber.

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 7th 2015. 3:15 a.m._

Nightwing watched Zatanna as she talked, animatedly throwing her hands up in the air. He was half listening to her story (He basically had already figured it out) but was more so watching her, just so glad that she was with him again.

"... And then I had to come here. To Wisconsin. It wasn't safe there anymore,"

Dick raised his eyebrow, "You did all of that for your father?"

"I would do anything for my father,"

There was tense silence between them, a heavy reminder that what happened to Zatanna's father was partly the former boy wonder's fault.

"Listen, I'm still really sorry about it-"

"Dick, please just…" Zatanna put her hand up to silence him, "I don't want to hear it. Please,"

"Alright," That was understandable. It was a tough thing to talk about, "I'm just glad I can see you,"

He saw a glimmer of a smile flicker across her face, "I am too," She reached across the counter and slid her hand within his, "I… missed you,"

Nightwing smiled at her and placed his hand on top of hers, "I missed you too. But maybe you can come back now?"

"No," The sources slid her hand out of his grip, shaking her head quickly, "No, I can't,"

"But Zatanna-"

"God, I should have known you wouldn't understand," She threw her hands up, "I can't go back, Dick, I can _never go back,"_

"And why? Why _not_?" He snapped, patience running thin. They had messed up, sure, but when would she stop _punishing_ him for it?

"Because," She took a breath and leveled her gaze with his, "The only reason my father is alive is because the Justice League thinks that I'm dead. If I want him to live, I have to stay dead,"

* * *

 **End of chapter three! There was some Chalant bc I know you guys like Chalant.**

 **What happened to Zatara? :3 Mystery of that will be revealed later.**

 **lol in the next chapter we get to see Artemis' reaction to waking up in Wally's bed.**

 **Hey, sorry for not updating for a while. I had finals and I started summer school but now that I'm used to it, I should be updating more often. Thanks for your patience. :)**

 **The next chapter will also be fluffy (Like this one is) then the plot will really start settling in. I'll put a lot of plot elements in the next one too but it'll be primarily fluff.**

 **Review? I love feedback.**


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

 _Can we go back to the world we had?_

 _With a love so sweet it's makes me sad_

 _Can we go back to the world we had?_

 _It's the world we've been dreaming of_

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 7th 2015. 7:00 A.M._

Artemis rolled over in the bed, groaning and pulling the covers over her eyes. Couldn't she just stay in bed five more minutes? God, it was so comfortable and warm in here-

 _Wait._

 _I didn't fall asleep on a bed. I fell asleep on a rooftop._

She shot up and did a quick sweep on the room. It certainly wasn't hers. The walls were wooden and paneled. It was a small room and it looked like the only two objects that could even fit in it was the bed she was in and a clothing rack that had a black sheet draped over it. She was more than a little relieved to see that her bow and arrow were placed up against the adjacent door.

As she got up to go retrieve her bow, Artemis caught sight of the note left on her bedside and picked it up, reading it slowly.

 _So… This is Kid Flash's place? Oh, I'm so eating those Lucky Charms._

At ease, she left her bow by the door and headed into the hall. It seemed to lead to a living room area that had a small kitchen tucked into the corner. There was a figure, which she could only assume was Kid Flash himself, tucked away on the couch.

The archer smirked to herself as a somewhat evil plan formulated in her mind. She made a beeline for the Lucky Charms, which Kid Flash had unfortunately placed in plain sight. Taking a big spoonful, she marched over to his place of rest, planning to wake him up with a spoonful of Charms in her mouth.

That was when it happened.

She turned him over, expecting to see his masked face but sometime in the middle of the night, the mask had ridden up and exposed his true identity. In place of the mask was a pale face, with freckles sprinkled all over the cheekbones. Tufts of red hair peeked out below the mask, his mouth half opened in sleep. It was a face that Artemis had seen before and about the last person she had expected to be a superhero.

"Wally?"

She stepped back, heart rate suddenly elevated. Oh my God… _Wally West_ was _Kid Flash?_ The guy she had yelled at on his first day here? No… No… That couldn't be possible. Kid Flash was sweet, and fun, and a little annoying but also endearing at the same time but Wally was just… _Wally._ He _couldn't_ be Kid Flash, he _couldn't._

Running as fast as she could, Artemis grabbed her arrows and bolted, running out the door and further into herself.

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 7th 2015. 11 a.m._

"NO NO NO NOOOO!" Zatanna cried out in agony as her cart fell off of Rainbow Road, "DAMN IT!"

"Haha!" Dick cried, standing up and holding his cursor in victor, "I win! AGAIN!"

"You know what," The brunette responded, standing up and crossing her arms, "I want a rematch?"

"Oh really?" Dick said, crossing his arms with a smirk, "You know that I'm just going to win again, right?"

"Bullshit," She said, hitting the "start" button on the screen, "Princess Peach is going to take you down,"

"Good luck," He taunted, taking a seat beside her, "We all know I'm the best at video games,"

"I can list a hundred reasons why you're wrong,"

After Dick's visit last night, the two had just stayed up talking and Dick filled her in on all of the events that had transpired after she had left: Babs, Jason Todd, how Wally had gotten accepted into Stanford, and how he had branched off. She almost cried when she heard of the recent split between M'Gann and Connor but Dick had always known how to cheer her up. After that, the two were too gleeful at their reunion to go to sleep but they didn't want to discuss the past anymore so they engaged in an old pastime: Mario Kart.

Just then, the front door to the apartment opened and Artemis stumbled in. One look at her and Zatanna knew that last night had not gone well for her. There was a panicked, slightly enraged look on her face. Quickly, the magician sweeped her eyes around her. No gear. Thank God, she didn't need Dick asking questions.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know we had anyone over…" The blonde woman muttered, turning around, "I can come back later-"

"No!" Zatanna said, quickly standing up, "Come on," She threw her a very pointed look, silently telling her to stay, "Dick, this is my roommate Artemis. Artemis, this is my very old friend Dick,"

Dick extended a hand and smiled warmly, "Nice to meet you,"

Artemis did the same, although her mind looked like it was in a very different place, "Likewise. I'm sorry I'm not much conversation. I'm not feeling very well,"

"Happens to the best of us," Dick replied, giving her a warm smile, "Why don't you go lay down? I know from experience that Z here makes the best soup,"

"That I do," Zatanna replied with a smirk before turning to Artemis, "Lay down in your room. I'll be there in a minute,"

"Sure," The blonde said, shooting a weak smile, "It was nice to meet you," With that, she trudged off towards her room, closing the door behind her.

"Sorry about that," Zatanna responded, "She's not usually like that…" What was up with Artemis? She was so much more sarcastic and lively than that, even on her worst days.

"Don't worry about it. I have to go anyways," He responded, ever mysteriously not telling her why or where he was going, "But I'll see you later tonight?"

"Course!" She smiled at him, "Pop by whenever," For a beat, Zatanna hovered awkwardly, still deciding between giving him a hug goodbye or just a nod. Settling with a shoulder pat, she said, "Later?"

Looking somewhat disappointed, Dick nodded, "Later," He spun on his heels and out the door, automatically locking it behind him.

She waited just a second, smiling at the thought of the evening, before heading towards Artemis's room. Standing outside her door, Zatanna knocked very gently, "Artemis?"

"I'm fine!" The voice came quickly, "Just a little tired. Sorry about that,"

Zatanna frowned and called back, "Get some sleep!"

"Can't," Artemis responded, opening the door in her waitress uniform, "I've got work. And Augustus has been more on my ass than ever,"

The sorceress frowned. Artemis was probably her closest friend and she was so worried for her. Her behavior this morning and the anxious look that her face bore right now was nothing like her usual confident, snarky attitude. Something was definitely wrong. Zatanna wasn't giving this up.

"You can tell Augustus to talk to me if he has a problem," She responded, turning Artemis around and pushing her back into her bedroom, "You're getting some rest. You've been pulling all nighters on your recent patrols. It's time for you to get some sleep,"

"Zatanna, please," She scoffed, turning around and crossing her arms, "I can handle a shift!"

"Not like this you can't," The magician replied, pushing Artemis onto her bed, "Now. I know you're not tired- _evig em a raich,"_ She chanted, sitting down smugly on the chair she had just summoned, "I'm not stupid. So you can either tell me what's wrong or you can stay here all day and sleep," Crossing her arms, she leaned back, "I've got all day, kid. Hit me with your best shot,"

It was with a sigh that Artemis leaned back on her bed and began to relay the events of the morning to Zatanna.

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 14th 2015. 6 a.m._

Wally waited for days.

Every night, the speedster would wait at their meeting spot, and every night he was met with disappointment; and now as he stalked home, his mood still not lifted after a night of kicking bad guy butt, he felt a growing sense of depression.

What had he done? Had taking her to his house been too much for her? Did she think that he… did something to her? The last thought filled him with a pent up rage. All he had done was treat her fairly, despite their somewhat constant bickering. Did she really think of him as so low as to harm her? Was that why she was avoiding him? Was that why she all but disappeared?

"Hey dude," He grumbled as he walked into his shared cabin with Dick, "Surprised to see you here,"

"Date ended early," Dick replied simply, turning to face Wally, "So I decided to do some research. We're at no leads so far on our case and the JLA is not happy,"

"Of course not," The case had been at a dead end for so long. Wally was beginning to suspect that the JLA had a false lead and that Sportsmaster wasn't anywhere _near_ Farmer's Grove. There was nothing here but cornfields. How could he be hiding out here?

"Hey, what's up?" Dick asked, sensing his best friends current moodiness, "You seem very not whelmed,"

"I am not," Wally confessed, flopping onto the couch and looking up at the ceiling.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing,"

"Wally. I'm your best pal. I know you well enough to know that it's not nothing,"

The speedster sighed and closed his eyes, crossing his arms. So many words weighed at the tip of his tongue… He wanted to spill the whole story to Dick and was just about to when a better idea came to mind, one that would solve everything.

"Hey Dick?" He asked, sitting up, "If I asked you, could you track someone down for me?"

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 14th 2015. 7:53 a.m._

Nightwing stared at the piece of paper in front of him, running his hands through his hair, "So… This "Tigress" of yours… She's Asian, blonde, an archer, brown eyes, and you think that she may either live in Madison, the suburbs, or around here?"

"That's right," Wally answered, pacing the room in superspeed, "She never gave me a real name but she told me to call her Diana,"

Dick wrote it down on his legal pad. Fake names usually had some sort of correlation to the real one, "Well… Let's see what the database said…" Filling out the description and area to search, Nightwing called over his soldier, "465 matches in this area. There are two with Diana as a name and well…" He turned around, showing a picture of two senior citizens on the screen, "I doubt they're Tigress,"

"We have to keep looking, Dick. I need to find her," Kid Flash responded, pausing in his superspeed pacing for just a moment, "I need to find out what I did wrong or if she's okay…"

The former boy wonder nodded, biting his lip. He had a feeling that this was more personal to Wally than the speedster would dare admit, that he wanted to find this girl for more intimate reasons, emotional reasons, "Tell you what. Why don't you go take a shower? I'll try to see what I can find,"

"Thanks man," The redhead threw him a weak smile, "You're the best pal ever,"

"I know," Dick smirked, "Now go. You smell like sardines,"

"Yeah and you smell like infatuation," Wally countered, referencing Dick's mysterious "dates" that he would reveal very little about. Wally had no idea that Dick had been seeing Zatanna and Dick was going to keep it that was. He would _never_ live it down if Wally knew about him and Zatanna. Not to mention that Zatanna would slaughter him if he ever told anyone that she was alive and well.

"Shut up," He rolled his eyes, "I'll tell you what I find when you get back,"

"Alright," Wally responded, walking down the hallway and into the bathroom. Dick waited until the water began running to really start his search.

From what Dick knew, the two had been patrolling together for about a week before Tigress ceased coming, however, Wally's story had a hole in it. He claimed that the last time he saw Tigress, they had fallen asleep on a roof together and when he'd awoken, she had taken off but Dick had known Wally for several years and Wally could not willingly sleep outside in the cold. The night of September 7th, the last time Tigress and Kid Flash had seen each other, had an average of 55 degrees. Nightwing had slept over with Kid Flash so many times that he knew that there was no way that he fell asleep in that weather and there was no way that he would have just let Tigress sleep in the cold. Wally probably took her either to the cabin or to a hotel. Seeing as none of their financial records showed withdrawal or a hotel check in, Dick guessed that it was the cabin, which meant that her DNA was in the house. Wally had probably withheld the information in fear of sparking Nightwing's temper, which, Dick had to admit, was a smart decision. He would totally kick Wally's ass for it in sparring later.

Rising from his chair, Nightwing began to look through the cabin. Knowing Wally, he put her in his bed and then took the couch. The detective silently crept into Wally's room and began looking for any DNA, specifically a strand of hair. He looked under the bed but all he found was dust bunnies. There was no hair stuck to walls. Finally, he flipped over Wally's pillow and laid eyes on exactly what he wanted: two long strands of blonde hair. Tigress's hair.

Rearranging everything so that it was the same as when he had first walked in, Dick walked into the living room and put the strands of hair into a tube. He then connected it to the computer and ran a DNA program that Batman had built years ago. It wasn't as accurate as it once was but it should be enough to at least give Nightwing a relatively decent lead.

He hit connect and waited a moment before a text reading "MATCH FOUND" flashed across his computer screen. A moment passed before the photo of a blonde girl popped up.

She matched Wally's description in every way. Long blonde hair with hardened brown eyes. She was Asian, of Vietnamese descent it looked like, and the best part was that Dick had seen that face only a few days before, which made her entirely trackable.

"Artemis Crock…" He whispered, smiling to himself, "We meet again,"

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 14th 2015. 12:45 a.m._

Artemis let out a victorious yell as she finished the last of the dishes, stacking them in order. It was way past closing time and the archer had been stuck with her least favorite thing in the word: Dish duty. She'd manage to avoid it for a week but today Augustus had tracked her down and stuck her with the terrible duty. It had taken an hour and 45 minutes to clean all of the dishes from the day but she had managed to do it without breaking any from sheer frustration and that, to Artemis, was a victory.

"Finally done…" She muttered to herself, taking off her apron and hanging it on the hook. She couldn't wait to go home and crash. There were two things that kept her mind off of the whole ordeal with Kid Flash and those two things were working and sleep. Artemis had thrown herself into her waitressing duties and whenever she was off work, she was tucked away in bed, dreaming the night away. It was better than thinking about Kid Flash and Wally West and what she would do or even say whenever she saw him. Although she knew that she would inevitably run into one or the other eventually, she knew that she would ignore him as long as she possibly could and that included not thinking about him.

Right as the blonde was about to clock out, the lights above her flickered. She knew better than to just write it off as technical error right away; her father had taught her better. Immediately, she went into a defensive stance and prepared for a fight.

The light's continued to flicker for a moment before shutting off all together. Artemis ran for the utensils, grabbing a set of knives, before running for the exit. She reached it without a problem but the door wouldn't budge. Whoever had turned off the lights had also auto-locked the doors. This wasn't a rookie. This was obviously someone who knew what he was doing.

"Dad, if this is you, I won't hesitate to kill you. I promise," She spat out, holding the knife up and out.

There was silence for a moment before a figure emerged from the shadows. Except it wasn't her father or her sister. Instead, it was a masked figure. Only when Artemis saw the insignia on his chest did she know who it was: Nightwing.

Of course. Kid Flash/Wally had told her that he was here. But why was he confronting her? He couldn't know that she was Tigress… Could he?

"Artemis Crock," Nightwing began, his voice distorted, "I know that you possess the identity of Kid Flash and while I do not believe that you will do him any harm, I still want to discuss the matter with you,"

Oh God. Not Wally… She'd been successful in avoiding thinking about the matter for a few days now. Why did _Nightwing,_ of all people, have to come and mess that up?

"What do you want to know?" She asked, her stance still defensive.

"I want you to talk to him," Nightwing said simply, shocking Artemis.

"Huh?" She asked, so confused that she dropped her knife, "You want me to talk to him?"

"Yes," He said, "Talk to him. Tell him that you know his identity and that it freaked you out but you still want to be friends with him or patrol with him or whatever it is. Tell him that you know and it freaked you out so bad that you never want to see him again but whatever you do, don't leave him like this. Don't leave him all confused like this. He thinks he did something wrong and he's torturing himself for it. Find him, in costume or out, and talk to him. Artemis, please,"

He… was torturing himself? Because of her? A pang of guilt hit Artemis. Yes, Kid Flash could be annoying sometimes but he was always happy, always upbeat. It was hard to imagine him sad or down at all… And the fact that she was the cause of this made her feel worse than she did before.

"Fine," She replied after a moment of silence, "I'll talk to him. Tomorrow night. I'll talk to him,"

"Thank you," Nightwing responded.

"But hey… Nightwing?" She asked, looking at the masked hero, "Just don't… Don't tell your JLA friends about me, about my whereabouts. Don't tell anyone. Please?"

He looked at her and although his eyes were hidden, Artemis knew that he somehow understood, "Your secret is safe with me," With that, he stepped into the darkness and a minute later, Artemis knew that she was all alone.

* * *

 **So I don't know if I'm happy with this chapter… A lot happened and I got a lot of this subplot written out but idk if it was my best writing.**

 **We're about to get to the whole plot with Sportsmaster so hold on tight. Act I is almost over and when we get to Act II things will definitely take off.**

 **Also I was thinking of making a playlist with all the songs I featured at the start of every chapter. Would any of your be interested in that or non?**

 **Review please? I love hearing your feedback, even you quiet little guys who just sub (I see you), I wanna know what you think! :)**


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

 _Your touch_

 _Your skin_

 _Oh, where do I begin?_

 _Nothing can explain the way that I'm missing you_

* * *

 _Madison, Wisconsin. September 18th 2015. 2:15 a.m._

Wally waited within the dark confines of their meeting space as he had been doing for over a week now. The speedster was tempted to just turn around and head home. By now, he was certain that he would probably never see Tigress again. Persistent as he was, Wally could take a hint. She never wanted to see him again. And he had no idea why.

"I shouldn't have listened to Dick…" He muttered under his breath, his best friend's encouragement being the only reason that Wally continued to wait for Tigress these past few days. Although Wally had the sneaking suspicion that his friend just wanted the cabin empty for his "dates".

He wouldn't go to the cabin, in fear of disturbing Dick and whomever he was spending his nights with, Wally would just check into some hotel and spend the night there. Or maybe find a bar and drink away his disappointment, something to pass the time because he was clearly wasting it waiting around for someone that would never show up.

However, as he turned to leave, he stopped. For standing right behind him was a tall girl with long blonde hair and a tiger mask: Tigress.

"Di-Tigress!" He exclaimed, almost saying her real name out of excitement, "You're here?"

Then, out of concern, he added, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm-" She was unusually reserved. The Tigress that he knew was open in sarcastic, sassy sort of way but the one he observed in front of him now was quiet, unspoken, and nervous, "I'm fine. I just have something I need to talk to you about,"

Damn it. He really _had_ weirded her out by bringing her to her house, "Listen, Tigress, if my

taking you to my place made you uncomfortable-"

"No. It's not that…" She sighed and was quiet for one terrifying moment before continuing, "I was trying to wake you up. It was the morning and I took a huge bite of the Lucky Charms, specifically because you told me not to. I wanted to irritate you. But when I rolled you over, your mask had dragged up and… I saw it was you. You as in," Her voice lowered, "Wally West,"

"That was why you were avoiding me?" He asked, startled, "Did you tell anyone?"

"No, of course not," Tigress answered, shaking her head, "I just kind of freaked and well… Here we are,"

"Huh," If she hadn't told anyone, and it didn't look like she was planning to, then Wally supposed that it was okay. She seemed pretty trustworthy… Hey, if she could put a name to his face, then she probably lived in Farmer's Grove. Maybe he even knew her, "Hey. Since you know my identity, what's yours?" It only seemed fair that if she knew who he really was that he knew who she really was.

"Sorry, Kid," She answered, shaking her head, "Not telling,"

Now he was irritated. Did she really not trust him that much? He had never done anything to harm her or to sell her out. Why was she so skeptical of him? He trusted her. Of course, now that she knew his identity, he kind of had to but, nevertheless, he _trusted_ her. Why wouldn't she trust him?

"Seriously? You know my identity. I should be allowed to know your identity," The speedster crossed his arms, "Or do you not trust me?"

"I don't trust anybody," _Ouch_.

"We've been fighting side by side for a while now," Wally said, tensing up, "What more do I have to do to get you to put your faith in me?"

Suddenly, a voice came from the shadows. It had a slender, seductive sound to it and seemed to have a paralyzing effect on whomever was listening to it, "Oh, it's nothing personal, _Kid Flash,_ " The voice said, placing extra emphasis on 'Kid',"Just _family_ business,"

From the shadows emerged a woman with wildly curly black hair. She was donning a Cheshire cat mask and had two swords strapped to her back. Although Wally couldn't see her, he swore she was smirking at him behind that mask of hers.

* * *

 _Madison, Wisconsin. September 18th 2015. 3:00 a.m_

"Cheshire," Artemis hissed, going into a defensive stance beside Wally, "What do you want?"

"To chat with my little-" Before she could finish the words, Artemis went sailing into her, knocking her into the wall of the building behind her. However, before Artemis could get a good hit in, Cheshire was gone. The blonde looked around for her and realized exactly where she was when someone clobbered her over her head.

The archer sank to the ground, holding her head and groaning, "Goddamnit…"

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Artemis heard Wally yell before catching up to the sisters and pulling Cheshire off of Artemis before she could get a second hit in. Overcome with adrenaline, Artemis stood up and tackled Jade to the ground, punching her square in the nose.

"Sorry," The assassin replied sarcastically, "This won't do," With a small movement, Cheshire had her little sister rolling off of her and into a wall. Groaning when Wally caught Artemis before any damage could be done, she added, "Do you mind? Tigress and I are _trying_ to have a private conversation,"

"Actually, yeah, I do mind," Wally replied, setting Artemis down and running at the assassin. He grabbed her by the waist and flung her into the one of the ground level shop's windows. Glass went flying everywhere and amongst the wreckage, a small groan of pain could be heard coming from Cheshire's direction.

"Sorry, _sweetie_ ," Jade said, putting extra emphasis on 'sweetie', "But this won't do," With that, she pulled a knife from her belt and cut Wally's shoulder with it. Artemis saw him stand up and wobble for a second before toppling down to the ground.

Horrified, the archer rose, "What did you _do_?" She charged at her older sister, pinning her to a wall and throwing punch after punch, "I swear, if you _fucking_ killed him-"

"Calm down, sis," She hissed, grabbing Artemis's punching fists and pinning them to her sides, "I only sedated him. Given his metabolism, he'll be awake in an hour. That's just enough for us to have a little _chat_ ," She twisted Artemis's wrists behind her back and pinned her to the wall, switching places in a flash, "Listen to me, you've pissed off dad. Big time. You're wearing mom's mask and you took her name. He's livid,"

"Yeah? So?" She twisted in her sister's grip, trying to keep the pain out of her voice, "Why should I care?"

"You should care, sister, because this isn't like any other time," Her tone was so gravely serious that Artemis felt the trickles of fear she felt for her father start growing into streams, "You took the biochips from him and ruined his plan. Now you're wearing mom's mask and using her name. You're only reminding him of his greatest failure. He's ready to kill you. Just leave the biochips, Artemis, and go. I'll pay for you to get away, just _go_ ,"

"If you think that's going to trick me into just handing over the biochips, then you're wrong," She hissed, "The biochips are staying…" She glanced at Wally, "I'm staying and dad can do whatever he wants about it,"

Flabbergasted, Jade let go of her sister's wrist and backed away, "Fine. But I can't keep covering your tracks anymore," That surprised Artemis. Why would her sister protect her? Jade had always been the one to help their father try to capture Artemis. The key word being _try_ , "In case you change your mind… You probably have about a month before he finds you again. I suggest you run. Fast. He won't spare you this time,"

"I can handle him," Artemis replied confidently, "You'll see,"

"Whatever you say," Jade said, doubtfully, "Before I go… You might want to cut ties with this one," She motioned towards Wally, "He's baggage, emotional baggage,"

"What do you know about baggage? Or emotions? You've never loved anyone but yourself,"

"Not true," She responded, the teasing lilt back in her tone, "I love you, sis. And I loved mom. And I love…" The assassin trailed off, "Well. Check your front pocket,"

"Huh?" Artemis looked down and slipped her hand into her pocket, pulling out absolutely nothing, "What do you-"

But when she looked up again, her and Wally were alone and once again, her sister had left her in the cold, blackened night.

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 18th 2015. 4:00 a.m._

"No, no, no. Don't get up," A gentle voice said, pushing Wally back down onto the soft mattress, "Stay down. You need your rest,"

Wally groaned and put a hand to his head. He felt like shit, absolute shit, "What happened?"

He was surprised when the voice ended up coming from Tigress. She must have switched off her distorter.

 _Maybe she actually_ trusts _me enough to use her real voice,_ he thought bitterly.

"Cheshire snuck up on her. She cut you with a blade laced with sedatives. You're completely fine. You just kind of passed out a little,"

That sounded right. Wally's memory began coming back to him; of the argument between him and Tigress, Cheshire, and the cut that made him go to sleep. He was still a little angry with Tigress but decided not to bring it up. There were more important things to deal with now, "Hey," He said, sitting up despite her protests, "Are you hurt?"

"A little but I'm fine-"

"Where?"

"I said I was _fine-_ "

"And I said _where are you hurt?"_

Giving in with a huff, Diana stuck her wrists out, "My wrists. The right one is swollen but I think I'll be fine,"

Gingerly, Wally held her wrists, his thumb moving slowly on them. Her left one looked fine but her right wrist was definitely sprained. She'd need a splint at best, "Your right one is sprained. First thing in the morning, I want you get a brace," He looked at her intently as he said this, hoping to convey the importance of the message to her, "Seriously, Diana. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I can," She answered.

 _Where have I heard that voice before?_

There was an awkward silence between them as Wally settled back down onto the bed, the argument between them coming to mind. Hoping to avoid talking about it just yet, Wally looked around the room. It looked like a basement and was immersed in darkness, various supplies thrown about. In front of him was what looked like the back of a bookshelf or some sort of large cabinet, "Where are we?"

"This is my apartment basement. My… partner and I use this as our base," She explained, pausing for a moment before continuing, "Hey, listen Wally… I thought about what you said earlier, about my identity and all-"

"Yeah?" He asked, hoping to be hearing an apology, "I better be hearing an 'I'm sorry Wally',"

Even though it was too dark to correctly do so, Wally could have sworn that he saw her eyes roll, "Just shut up and listen. Anyways, I was thinking about what you said and… You're right. I know who you are, so it's only fair that you know who I am. And…" He watched with intent eyes as she reached up and slid down her mask, revealing a familiar face beneath it, "I believe we've met. I'm Artemis. Artemis Hunt,"

Wally was taken aback. _Tigress_ was _Artemis_? The bitchy waitress that had yelled at him on his first day here?, "No. Way,"

"Yes. Way," She bit her lip before starting to talk again, "Listen, you have to promise not to tell anyone. And I mean anyone. If anyone finds out, I'm done for,"

Wally was too busy being shocked by her identity to pay full attention to what she was saying. Never in a million years had he imagined _Artemis_ to be someone as badass as _Tigress_. It changed nothing between them but was still quite the shock to Wally, "Hey. Do I get discounts at _Rocket's_ now because I saved your ass a million and one times?"

"Please," She rolled her eyes and flopped down onto the mattress beside him, "I've saved yours a million and twice. You should tip me extra now,"

"You wish," He responded sarcastically, glad that he knew her identity. At least they could hang out more often now and hey, he had a friend in town now. Letting out a yawn, he murmured, "You know, that sedative is still kicking my ass, do you mind if I sleep here?"

"Sedatives will do that. And only if you tip me $10 tomorrow,"

"$8 is as high as I can go,"

"I'll take it,"

Wally smirked, yawning a little before rolling onto his side and closing his eyes, "Goodnight Arty,"

"Hey Wally?"

"Hmm?"

"Call me Arty again and I'll tell the whole town who Kid Flash really is,"

"Whatever you say, Arty,"

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 18th 2015. 10:00 a.m._

Zatanna groaned as looked through her fridge, unhappy with the lack of coffee in the fridge, "Hey Dick?"

From the bathroom, Dick called out, "Yeah Z?"

"Can you run down to the basement and get some coffee beans? I hide it with all of my superhero things because if someone gets into my stash, it will be as bad as someone finding my Zatanna Zatara things,"

Done with brushing his teeth, Dick emerged from the bathroom, "Sure. Where exactly in the basement is it?"

"Just keep digging through there. It's in the way back, behind like a bookshelf,"

"Gotcha. I'll be back soon," He tossed her a smile and headed out the door and down the outdoor stairs of the apartment complex. He knew where the basement was from the amount of times Zatanna had sent him down there to grab various supplies (Like the fire extinguisher… Let's just say that he never let Zatanna near the stove ever again) but he had never seen her hero things.

He opened the basement and headed down into it. The deeper in that he got, the more messier things became. The former boy wonder pushed toys, cooking utensils, blow up things, beach accessories, and some all out strange things out of his way until he finally came face to face with a huge bookshelf. It held no books but had a small note taped to it that read "Property of Zatanna Zamara and Artemis Hunt,". He knew that the second one was a fake name and could only guess that Zatanna had changed her last name for sake of privacy.

Easily pushing it to the side, Dick was greeted with the sight of two people lying on what he presumed was a blow up mattress. One was dressed in a Kid Flash suit, Wally of course, and the other was a woman. Dick couldn't see her face but knew from the mess of blonde hair that it was Artemis. Beside the mattress was a Tiger mask and various medical supplies. Both of them were breathing and looked fine, just asleep.

Wally's arm was thrown over Artemis's waist and her head was buried in the crook of his neck. Dick could only assume that both of them had been so tired after whatever had happened on their patrol last night that they just completely passed out the second their heads touched the mattress. The sight brought a smirk to Nightwing's face. He gave it a week before they became an item.

"I'll just give you two some privacy then…" Dick smirked, moving the bookshelf back into place and heading up the stairs. He closed the door to the basement and fished a $20 from his wallet, "Hey, Z!" He called, "I can't find the coffee. I'll be back in a few minutes with a new pack of it. Just stay put!"

* * *

 **Meh. I feel like my writing for the past few chapters hasn't been good but hey I rewrote this like a bunch of times so I feel like this should be good? Idk?**

 **Zatanna and Dick are going to DTR in the next chapter, so just prepare yourselves.**

 **Now that Artemis and Wally know who each other are, things are about to get very cute, very fast.**

 **Sportsmaster will make an appearance soon :O (Oh no!)**

 **Also, in the AU, Sportsmaster was entrusted with the Cadmus biotech chips that took over the JLA in the season one finale but Artemis took them when she found out the Light's plan. She's been on the run since. Because of this, they never found out that Roy was mole but he and Cheshire still got together because they flirted and stuff regardless of his mole-ness or not. This will come up later, trust me ;)**

 **New chapter will be out Sunday-Monday?  
Please review? Your reviews seriously mean a lot to me. **


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

 _For nobody else gave me a thrill_

 _With all your faults, I love you still_

 _It had to be you, wonderful you_

 _It had to be you_

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 18th 2015. Noon._

Artemis let out a yawn and nuzzled her head into Wally's chest as she awoke, sliding an arm around him. Reluctantly, she opened an eye before closing it again and trying to fall back asleep.

 _God, this is so comfortable. I really should fall asleep with Wally more often-_

The thought had her sitting up and instantly awake. She looked at the speedster sleeping next to her, eyes lingering on him for a moment too long before she jumped out of the bed.

All she remembered was Wally asking if he could sleep in the basement and herself agreeing to it. Then she had lain down next to him and was thinking about her encounter with Cheshire. She must have fallen asleep sometime then…

The whole thing about Cheshire really had left her more confused then before. Her sister had teamed up with Sportsmaster to track her down before and had arrived to kidnap her sans warning. What made this time so different? Of course, Jade had said that their father was livid with her… But angry enough to have Jade warn her?

The thought sent a chill down Artemis's spine.

Also what did she mean by "check your front pocket"? Logically, she should have assumed that it was a distraction but Artemis knew her sister. She knew how her distractions worked. They were much more elaborate. A simple "check your front pocket" wasn't a typical distraction. Artemis had the feeling that there was another meaning to it…

Before she could further ponder the matter, Wally began to stir. In a paranoid panic that he would figure out that she had fallen asleep with him, Artemis darted behind her bow to hide, realizing only too late that it would not adequately cover her.

"Mmm… Artemis?" Wally mumbled, sitting up and scratching his head, "Are you there?"

Taking too long of moment to reply, she said, "Y-Yeah. I'm here. I'm just… fine tuning my bow,"

"Bows need fine tuning?"

"Y-Yeah because I mean like… You've got the string and that has to, um, remain taut?" Unable to listen to herself stutter along, she changed the subject, "H-How'd you sleep,"

"Really, _really_ good actually," He said, standing up and stretching, "I should sleep down here more often,"

"Yeah," She stood up and stretched out with a yawn, "I don't know what I'm going to do today. I'm off of work for once and that means I have nothing to do until like 10…"

"Hey, we should hang out!" He exclaimed.

Artemis raised a brow, "Us? Hang out?"

"Why not?" He shrugged, "We hang out all night anyways. What's another twelve hours?"

She considered his proposition. It didn't sound that bad… Although he could be annoying sometimes, he was a lot of fun to talk to. Besides, what else would she do all day?  
"Sure. Let me just change. I was so tired that I crashed in my superhero clothes the second I hit the bed," She said, lying through her teeth.

"Yeah, same…" Wally trailed off, looking at his own clothes before he jumped out, eyes ablaze with an idea, "Hey! I know what we should do today?"

"And that is…?"

"Oh, it's going to be great!" He said, jumping up and down in excitement, "I can't tell you yet. Just meet me- Wait, no, I'll pick you up. Here. In 30 minutes. Be ready," With that, he zipped around her and out the basement, muttering something about 'surprise' and 'the best day ever'.

Artemis smiled as she rolled her eyes, heading up stairs to her room as quickly as she could.

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 18th 2015. Noon._

"$3.50," Zatanna said boredly as the customer in front of her shelled out the money, "Have a nice day," She muttered, stowing the money away in the cash register.

The magician was working yet another six hour shift at the gas station she had found employment at. It was incredibly boring and tedious but it was the only place that didn't ask questions and Zatanna greatly appreciate it. Lately, it hadn't been as boring because Dick had begun to tag along and keep her company, which she honestly didn't mind at all. It made the work eons less boring.

"How much longer until you're off?" Dick asked, "This is so dull…"

"Tell me about it," She sighed and looked at the clock, "Five more hours. So sit tight, we've got a long way to go,"

"So that should be off around … 4:00?" He smirked, reminding Zatanna of the way he had been before she left, young and childish. That Dick Grayson had died when Robin had and Nightwing had turned the childlike qualities of his true identity into more serious attributes. She would always love him, serious or not, but she missed the Dick that she had known before his transformation. Perhaps it had been because she had been thrown into his change immediately as opposed to a more gradual change but she still longed for the old Dick Grayson that she once knew and cherished any moments that held his old gimmicks.

"Four," She nodded, "I'm not staying here a minute longer,"

"Perfect," He smirked, "I've got us booked at a waterpark for tonight and check in time is around 4,"

"Seriously?!" She asked, her smile widening when he nodded, "Oh my God! I haven't been to water park in… Since I left! I can't wait! We need to go on the toilet bowl and the drop and oh my God!" Running around the counter, she gave him a huge hug, "Thank you so much! We're going to have so much fun!"

Laughing, he responded, "Not a problem at all,"

Ever since the two had found each other again, they had been spending every waking moment with each other and it had to bring Zatanna to ask herself… What exactly were they? Were they just friends or… more? Before she had left, they had shared one tiny kiss… If it could even be called that. A tiny peck on the check, given to Dick on his birthday by her but now it seemed like they were more than friends. He took her out on dates and they spent every waking moment together. If there was anytime to define the relationship, it was now.

"Hey Dick?" She asked, uncertain on whether she should proceed or not.

"What is it, Z?" He asked, brows furrowing together.

"Well… um…" She looked down and subconsciously backed up a few steps, "Stop me if this get's too… weird but I don't know… I've just always felt like there was something more between us. Something more than friendship and lately, you've been taking me out on these little dates and we've been spending so much time together and I just…" She sighed, blowing a piece of hair out of her face in turn, "Are we just friends? Or are we something more? Do you want to be something more?"

There was a silence as Dick regarded her words, his face impassive. Zatanna held her breath and prepared herself for the worst.

 _I just totally weirded him out, didn't I? He never wants to see me again. Oh my God, I'm such an idiot. I should have never said anything. Geez, Zatanna, why'd you have-"_

"I think we're more than friends and I know that I want to stay like that,"

 _Wait. What?_

"I think… I want to be more than friends too," She answered, smiling to herself, "So what does that make us? Boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"I think I like the sound of that," Dick answered, giving her a smile of his own, "But a much more chalant version,"

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 18th 2015. 1:00 P.M._

Wally hit the gas pedal as hard as he could as his car raced down the empty rural highway. Beside him, Artemis was hanging onto her seat for dear life, muttering something about how he was going to kill the both of them.

"Sorry, babe," He said, winking at her, "The second fastest man alive can't slow down. Especially not in a car,"

"Well unless the second fastest man alive wants to be dragging me out of the wrecked car, he should slow down,"

"You should put more faith in me," Wally remarked, swerving around a pothole, "I'd never let anything like that happen to you and hey, I'm a good driver!"

"Whatever you say…" Artemis hummed, "Hey. Are you going to tell me where you're taking me now or what?"

"Nope!" He said, popping the 'p', "It's a surprise, Arty-"

"What did I say about calling me _Arty?"_

"As I was saying, Arty," He continued on, "It's a surprise. If I told you now, it would completely ruin it,"

She huffed beside him, "I don't like surprises,"

"You'll like this one," He affirmed as he pulled into a forested driveway, "Here we are!"

Wally's 2010 Toyota Corolla pulled through a forested driveway and into a small, dirt parking lot that gave way to a small pond. Empty lake houses lay on the docks around the body of water but the pond was devoid of any life above the surface although it was brimming with it underwater.

"A lake?" She asked, getting out of the car.

Following her out, Wally nodded, "This is probably my favorite spot in all of Wisconsin actually. I found this the first day I got here, after you yelled at me at _Rocket's_ ,"

"Hey! In my defense, that was a horrid pick up line,"

"Whatever you say babe, but you know in your heart that it was a great one," He said, pausing for a beat before continuing on, "I love this place. You can do anything but swimming is the best part,"

"Uh.. Wally?" Artemis commented, raising an eyebrow, "Neither of us really have a swimsuit,"

"And neither of us need one," He winked at her before running into the water, fully clothed, and diving in headfirst, "Come on! Live life on the edge a little,"

Artemis hesitated before coming up to the edge of the dock. Wally frowned. Why wasn't she getting in? This was fun, right?

"Sorry, baywatch, but this is my favorite shirt and I don't intend to ruin it with pond water,"

"Aww, c'mon Arty…" He muttered, swimming up to the dock with a mischievous smile on his face, "You wouldn't want me to… push you in, would you?"

Her eyes widened in horror, "You wouldn't-" But before she could complete the sentence, Wally jumped onto the dock and, using his super speed, wrapped his arms around her and jumped into the pond, making sure that he hit the water before she did.

"Oh, that's it! You are _so_ getting it, Kid Idiot," She growled, twisting around in his arms and attempting to dunk him by putting pressure on this head.

Wally thought it was a really cute effort for he obviously wasn't going to go down so easily, "You can try but I assure you, you will fail to-" He was cut off as he actually went below the water, shocking even himself. She was a lot stronger than he had given her credit for.

"As you were saying?" Artemis said, smirking as he resurfaced.

Wally's eyes narrowed playfully, "Oh, you are going down," He said, swimming towards her. She laughed, bringing a smile to the redhead's face, and swam in the opposite direction but it was to no avail. Wally caught up to her quickly and picked her up bridal style before throwing her a few feet deeper into the pond.

"Gotcha!" He said, smirking and crossing his arms as he waited for her to resurface. A few seconds later, when she didn't, Wally felt panic set in. Oh shit… Had he hurt her? Could she swim?

 _Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh fuck. Oh my God. If I hurt her or… worse, I'm never going to forgive myself for it._

He ventured deeper into the pond, "Artemis? Artemis? Shit-"

"Surprise!" Her voice called out from behind him, giving Wally a small moment of relief before he felt her jump onto his back, her legs wrapping themselves around his shoulders as she attempted yet again to dunk him, "I totally got you,"

"Nope," He smirked, lying back in the water and dunking her in the process, "I totally got _you_!"

Artemis huffed as she came back up, "You asshole…"

"You know you love me." He teased as she got off of his back and swam around so that she was in front of him.

"I don't know if I'd use 'love', Baywatch," She said, treading the water, "Hey, Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for uh.. Showing me this place," Long wet strands of blonde hair fell in front of her face as she looked at the water, glancing up at Wally only out of the corner of her eye, "I really like it here,"

Her words of thanks brought a smile to his face as well as the somewhat embarrassed look on her face, "I'm glad you like it," He laid down on his back and floated, "Hey Arty?"

"Yes, _Wallace,"_

"Oh ew, I now understand your feelings about Arty," He made a face, "Still gonna call you Arty though,"

"Damn it,"

"As I was saying," He replied with a smug look on his face, "Do you want to maybe skip patrolling tonight and just take a break? We could have a movie night or something?"

"I wouldn't mind a break honestly," There was silence from the archer's end as she pondered her next words, "On one condition though,"

"What?" He asked, opening one eye and glancing over at her. She was floating on the water with her eyes closed, hair spread out around her like an angel's halo. Her clothes were soaked and dripping but she didn't look like she minded. This was the first time that he had seen Artemis truly content and it was quite the sight to behold.

"We watch a ninja movie. I love ninja movies,"

"Anything you want, babe,"

* * *

 _Jump City. September 18th 2015. 6:00 p.m._

Lawrence Crock smirked to himself as he surveyed the photos of his daughter. Two shots of her in Kid Flash's arms as he raced away, three shots of her waiting on various customers, and another two of her getting into a car with a redhead. All seven shots reaffirming his suspicion: Artemis was in Farmer's Grove and if she was in Farmer's Grove, then the biotech chips were too.

"Jade can't always hide your tracks, baby girl," He said, slipping on his Sportsmaster mask, "And you won't be able to get away from me this time,"

* * *

 **OHHHHHH SHIT**

 **Run Artemis run**

 **I hope you guys liked this. We're in like Act II of the story now. This chapter was a lot fluffier but the next one will be v intense. The next few will be very intense actually. Prepare yourselves.**

 **Please review?:)**


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

 _Kiss me, out of the bearded barley_

 _Nightly, beside the green, green grass_

 _Swing, swing, swing the spinning step_

 _You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress_

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 21st 2015. 11:09 p.m._

"... Then we went down the toilet bowl and oh my God, Artemis. It was the absolute best!" Zatanna gushed, bringing a smile to Artemis's face. It was nice to see her best friend so happy.

"Sounds like it," The arched responded, lifting a napkin dispenser and washing the table under it, "So… You gonna tell me who this guy is yet?"

"Only if you tell me who has you coming home late every night,"

A wild red painted Artemis's cheeks, "Zatanna!"

"What? It's just the truth," The magician smirked, "Hey, I'm gonna grab a beer from the back,"

"Go for it,"

It was way past closing time at _Rocket's_ and it was Artemis's turn to clean up. However, this time Zatanna had chosen to tag along with her roommate. They had decreed tonight a sort of girls night. Once Artemis finished cleaning up the bar, they were going to find the worst free horror movie on demand and stay up until the early hours of the morning watching it. Zatanna had bought tons of soda, candies, and McDonalds for the night to make sure that they stayed up. It truly was going to be, in every sense of the word, a girl's night.

All Artemis had left to do was close up the bar, which involved turning off all of the tap's, storing all of the alcohol in the back, and cleaning the counter. It sounded like more work than it actually was. Augustus had put most of the alcohol in the back beforehand and all of the tap's turned off automatically at 11:30. That just left stocking whatever was left and cleaning the counter, which was no problem at all.

As she got out a new rag to clean the counter with, the air conditioning came to a stop. After her encounter with Nightwing, Artemis had been more alert when it came to any sort of systematic fails and this certainly caught her attention. A few moments later, the light's flickered and a bulb exploded before all of them blew out.

Ducking behind the counter, the blonde tucked herself into a shelf. She counted to ten as she held her breath, mind jumping to the worst conclusion.

 _Oh fuck, oh God, Jade was right. I should have listened to her. I should have-_

"Baby girl-"

 _No please no_

"Come out and greet your-"

 _"Eit mih!"_ Zatanna yelled, coming out from the storage room.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Artemis emerged from behind the counter, "Sorry-" But she was cut off as Sportsmaster dodged the ropes flying at him, instead grabbing Artemis and using her as a shield.

"Now, now," He threatened, taking a knife and dragging it across his daughter's collarbone, "You wouldn't want to hurt your friend, now would you?" He said, addressing Zatanna.

"Get out of here, Z," Artemis said, struggling in her father's grasp, "Go! I can handle this!"

"If you think I'm leaving you with him, you're insane," Zatanna answered before turning to Sportsmaster, "Listen to me, if you don't let her go, I will have two of the biggest sidekick's on your ass before you can scream,"

"No need," Artemis said, grabbing the hand holding the knife to her collarbone. She gripped it hard and quickly spun out from under it. Using a side kick, she knocked the knife out of his hand and watched it clatter onto the floor. With some of Zatanna's assistance, Artemis was out of her binds in a second. Diving at him, Artemis landed a few punches before being thrown to the side by her father.

"I taught you well… But not well enough to beat me," He hissed, standing above his daughter, "I thought I taught you better than to disrespect me,"

Diving for his ankles, Artemis pulled them out from under him, grabbing a wooden barstool and smashing it on his head, "I thought I taught you better than to underestimate me," She looked for Zatanna but the girl was long gone. Glancing at Sportsmaster, she knew that her only option was to run but before she could get even a foot away, Sportsmaster latched onto her foot and pulled her down.

"You're not getting away this time, baby girl,"

"Actually… I think _you're_ the one not getting away this time,"

Artemis's head snapped up at the familiar voice. Zatanna! She was back!

The brunette stood in the middle of the room, looking positively livid. Her hair was blowing around her and her eyes had a dangerous gleam to them.

"And how are you going to do that?" Sportsmaster asked, rising from the ground.

Zatanna smirked, "Like this," With one fluid motion, she pulled the fire alarm down, "This is connected directly to the fire station. When they get here, they'll drag your ass to jail,"

"Sorry. Not today," Sportsmaster said, throwing some sort of smoke bomb in Zatanna's direction. It exploded around her and Artemis watched as she fainted, hitting the ground with a small 'thud'.

"Another day, baby girl," Lawrence said, throwing one in his daughter's direction as he ran for the exits.

Artemis tried to get up and chase after him but the smoke hit her immediately. The archer dropped to the ground, hitting her head on the side of a table. As her vision clouded and sirens blared in the distance, she heard her mother's voice in her ears.

 _"Run,"_

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 22nd 2015. 12:10 a.m._

"So… Cheshire appeared and attacked you?" Dick asked, walking around the small cabin, "What happened then?"

"I don't know…" Wally shrugged, sitting up on the couch, "She knocked me out. When I came to, Artemis said that they had fought and then Cheshire had run off,"

Dick pondered this silently. He knew that Artemis was Tigress (Obviously, he was the one that had tracked her down for Wally) but he didn't really know if Artemis was trustworthy… Who was she anyways? He had run a search on her and found out the basic information. She was the daughter of Lawrence and Paula Crock with an older sister named Jade but that was it. No moves, no arrests, no high school awards or any activity whatsoever… Not to mention that she changed her name to Artemis Hunt. It seemed like she didn't want to be found. Why?

"So? No girlfriend tonight?" Wally asked with a smirk, teasing Dick, "Are you going to tell me her name yet or am I going to have to ask Batman to figure that out for me,"

Rolling his eyes, Nightwing responded, "Nope and if you tell Batman, I'll tell Flash about that one time you almost drowned Bart,"

There was silence as Wally regarded his loss, "Damn it. Fine but don't think-"

He was cut off as Dick's ringer went off. The two looked at each other. The screen read 'Z' and suddenly Dick was relieved that he didn't put Zatanna's full name into his phone.

"Z?" Wally asked, smirking, "Zoey?"

"Shut up," Dick grumbled, picking up the phone and walking into the other room, "Hello?"

"Dick! Thank God. There was an attack. I was at Rocket's with Artemis and Sportsmaster, he was calling her something and he threw a-"

"Zatanna? Zatanna?" Dick asked, trying to calm her down, "Okay, Zatanna, _calm down._ What happened?"

There was silence on the other end as she caught her breath. It took her a while to calm herself enough to speak, which only made Dick more worried. What was wrong? He had heard something about an attack but… By who? What happened?

"Artemis was closing _Rocket's_ , you met her, right? She's my roommate,"

"We've met,"

"Well, she was closing and I was keeping her company, right? I went into the back to grab a beer and Sportsmaster broke in. It seemed like he was attacking Artemis, he said something about biotech and chips, I don't know. Anyways, I pulled the fire alarm in the back because it's connected to the police but before they could come, he knocked us out with some bomb thing. I'm okay but… Artemis isn't,"

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 22nd 2015. 2:30 a.m._

Everything seemed to move in extra slow motion for Wally.

He remembered Dick telling him about Artemis ( _"She was attacked and is in the hospital right now"_ ), he remembered the nurse telling him what was wrong with her (" _The gas he used on her paralyzed her but only momentarily. She'll be fine in a few hours,"_ ), he remembered Dick asking him to come back to the cabin and shaking his head no. He had to stay here until she was better.

Of course this happened the one night that they weren't together. He kept beating himself up over it. If he had just swung by _Rocket's_ after work to make sure that she was okay, if he had just _called_ her, maybe Sportsmaster wouldn't have attacked her tonight. Maybe she'd be okay right now. He knew that in a few hours, she'd be up and moving but he didn't want to have to wait a few hours. He wanted her to be okay right now.

"Sir?" An elderly nurse with a kind face was tapping his shoulder.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I'm not really supposed to do this but…" She fumbled around for a second before grabbing a set of keys, "You just look so sad. Do you want to go into her room?"

"Yes please!" He piped up, standing up, "Thank you so much… Uh?" He searched for a name tag but to no avail, "What's your name?"

"Inza," She answered, "And it's no problem. I know that if my Kent was injured that I'd want someone to do the same for me," Before Wally could say anything else, she unlocked the door and opened it, "If you run into any trouble, I'm right around the corner. Let's see them try to take me on,"

Wally laughed. He liked Inza, she was really funny and sounded kickass, "Thanks Inza. I'm Wally, by the way," He headed in, "I'll find you if anyone gives me a hard time,"

"You do that. They won't be getting past me,"

He laughed quietly and shut the door, gently walking towards the hospital bed. The monitor said that he heartbeat was steady but Artemis just looked so still… Seeing her made Wally so scared, so _desperate._ He just wanted her to be okay and looking at her, seeing her all hooked up to the hospital tubes, only made him all the more desperate for it.

Pulling up a chair, he sat down beside her and watched her breathing, all kinds of emotions running through him. Desperation… Guilt… Sadness… He didn't even know why he was feeling all of this for her. After all, Wally had only known Artemis less than a month and he was so affected by her albeit temporary paralyzation.

The thought shocked him. Less than a month? It seemed like he'd known her so much longer than that.

"Artemis…" He began, looking at her as he talked, "I know that they said that this paralyzation was temporary, that you'd be able to move by sunrise but it is just so scary seeing you like this. Please. You need to wake up now,"

The thought that he would never hear her laugh again or see her roll her eyes at him… It damn near broke his heart. He wanted her to be okay. He'd give anything for her to be okay. Hell… He'd take a few hours of paralyzation if it meant that she could wake up and walk away from this hospital right now.

As the thought ran through his head, Wally stiffened. He stiffened because he suddenly knew why he had been so affected by her hospitalization. He stiffened because he had done one of the most dangerous things a superhero could do.

He liked someone.

He _liked_ her.

That was why he felt like the world has dropped out from under him when he had heard about her injury, that was why his thoughts had seemed to revolve solely around her. He _liked_ her and that was why he was so worried.

"Listen, Artemis…" Wally began, uncertain of whether this was a good idea, "You have to pull through this. You have to pull through this because I don't know if I can handle a day without you. Please. Wake up. Wake up and I promise to be less annoying and to listen to you. You have to because… I really like you, Artemis," He confessed to her sleeping form, "And you have to pull through. You have to for me,"

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. September 22nd 2015. 8:00 a.m._

The only thing that kept Artemis going through the entire terrifying night was Wally.

She woke up sometime around two a.m. and wanted to scream, only she couldn't. She couldn't do anything. Artemis was confined to her body and it was one of the scariest things she had ever experienced.

She wanted to scream, move, hell… _Blink_ but she couldn't. She was certain that she would have gone insane had Wally not come into her words and given her the words that she had held onto all night.

 _I really like you, Artemis_

The thought elated her in a way that nothing ever had before. She, too, had not realized her feelings for the speedster until this critical moment; until she was paralyzed in a hospital bed and hearing his confession of interest. It wasn't until she had to wonder why those words made her so happy that she realized that she returned the feeling.

 _I really like you too, Wally._

Wally had grown on her. His bad jokes, his terrible pick up lines… All of the sweet things that he did on her. They had grown on her and made her all the more attached. She liked him too and only when she heard him saying it did she realized that she returned the thoughts.

As light flooded the room, Artemis strained to open her eyes. She knew the paralyzation was temporary and was only waiting now. After a few tries, her eyes opened, inciting a feeling of relief within the archer. If her eyes were opening, then everything was going to be absolutely okay. It took a few minutes before her limbs began responding again but once they did, Artemis knew exactly what she had to do.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Artemis shakily rose. Wally was fast asleep in his chair but that wouldn't change her plan at all. If anything, it would make it even better.

"Just for the record," She said, her voice quiet as she regained control of it, "I like you too,"

With those words, Artemis pressed a kiss down on Wally's lips, only drawn deeper into it when he awoke.

* * *

 **THEY DID IT**

 **THEY GOT TOGETHER**

 **Sorry if this chapter is kind of shitty. I had to write a paper for my dual enrollment class and ungh it was bad. I wanted to get them together this chapter bc that is how my plan is (*evil laughter*)**

 **Also, I promise that we will ACTUALLY find out what happened to Zatara in Chapter Eight.**

 **Review? :)**


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

 _All of the light's land on you_

 _The rest of the world fades from view_

 _And all of the love I see_

 _Please please say you feel it too_

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. October 10th 2015. 8:15 a.m._

 _"Artemis, we're leaving," A nineteen year old Jade stood above her little sister, who had been asleep a few moments earlier._

 _"Huh?" A young, dazed, and confused Artemis looked up at her sister, "Jade, what's-"_

 _She was cut off as the soon to be assassins covered Artemis's mouth with her hand, "Don't be so loud!" She whispered, "Get your things. We have to go,"_

 _Artemis narrowed her eyes and bit her sister's hand, "No. Not until you tell me what's going on,"_

 _There was a staring match between the two sister's before Jade faltered and opened her mouth to speak, "Artemis… Something happened-"_

 _She was cut off as the front door to the apartment slammed shut. The two made panicked eye contact then, in one sweeping motion, Jade picked up Artemis and hopped out of the window into the fire escape._

 _"We can't stay here anymore,"_

Artemis sat up quickly as her alarm buzzed, shaken by the memory that had come to light.

 _It was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a dream._

She turned off the alarm and just as quickly was pulled back down onto the bed by Wally.

"Noooo," Wally yawned, nuzzling his head into her neck, "Don't go. Call your boss and tell him that your boyfriend needs you,"

Calmed down by the feeling of Wally's arms around her, Artemis responded, "I want to," And she really did. She would have much rather stayed in bed with Wally and slept the morning away than wait on bossy customers but work called, "But I can't. We're understaffed today and Augustus will kill me if I call in sick again,"

Planting a kiss on her shoulder, Wally sighed, "Fine. Can I pick you up afterwards though?"

"Sounds good. I get off at… 4:30?"

"I'll be there at four," The speedster sighed, holding Artemis closer to him, "I don't want to let you go…"

Turning around so that they were face to face, the archer buried her head in his chest, "I don't want you to let me go," She said quietly before sighing and looking up at him, "Promise you'll be there at four?"

"Of course!" He smiled and kissed her nose, "I'd be there earlier but Nightwing wants me to help him with some league stuff,"

"That sounds fine," Artemis gave him a kiss before getting up and walking towards her closet, where she pulled out her Rocket's uniform. She really did not want to work today…

For the past two weeks, Wally and Artemis had spent basically every moment together. Although Artemis had the sneaking suspicion that Wally was glued to her hip primarily out of fear that Sportsmaster would return, she didn't really mind. She liked spending time with him. For the second time in a few years, she finally had somebody in her life that she wanted to keep around.

* * *

 _Chicago, Illinois. October 10th 2015. 1:00 p.m._

Nightwing sighed, staring at the city in front of him in despair. He and Wally had been searching for Sportsmaster for hours, going as far as crossing the state border but they hadn't come up with anything. No traces of technology, skin, hair, or anything that would help find Sportsmaster. It was like he had shown up, attacked Artemis, and then just… disappeared into thin air.

"Nothing…" He sighed, turning to face Wally, "You got anything?"

"Nope!" The speedster ran over towards his best friend, "Absolutely nothing. I don't get it," He huffed in frustration, "We're in Wisconsin for almost a month and nothing, absolutely nothing, to the point where I actually began to doubt if Batman sent us on the right trail or not but then _he_ springs up, without any definable purpose, attacks my girlfriend and leaves,"

"Your girlfriend, huh?" Nightwing smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Yup!" Wally said, smiling proudly, "Well, I mean, it's not official or anything but we're always together and I spend like every night at her place but she's my girlfriend, definitely, maybe,"

Dick would never say it outloud but he was more than a little suspicious of Artemis. From what he had gathered from Zatanna, she was new to town, constantly on the move, and provided little information about her past. It didn't help that she was also Tigress and seemed to almost instantaneously win the heart of one of the biggest sidekick's in the world: Kid Flash. It was suspicious. He'd have to do a little more digging on Artemis Crock…

"I'm happy for you, man," Dick said, smiling. He wasn't going to tell Wally of his suspicions just yet. In fact, he wouldn't tell him of them ever as long as there was nothing in Artemis's background to make him do so.

At that moment, both Wally and Dick's communicators rang. The two boys looked at each other briefly, communicating almost telepathically. If both of their communicators were ringing… Well, then whatever the League wanted to tell them must have been important; so important that they had to make sure that both boys heard it.

"Nightwing online,"

"Kid Flash online,"

"Nightwing, Kid Flash," It was Batman, "Call off your search and report to the Cave immediately. The League has detained Sportsmaster,"

* * *

 _Farmer's Grove, Wisconsin. October 10th 2015. 3:55 p.m._

Zatanna took a sip of her drink as Artemis cleaned the bar in front of her, "So… Wally's not coming to pick you up,"

"Nope," From her tone, Zatanna could tell that Artemis was not pleased about this, "He said he had some business to attend to,"

"Hey. Maybe we can actually do a girl's night?" She suggested, "You know, if Sportsmaster doesn't decide to come back and almost kill us or you again,"

The magician had been meaning to bring up Sportsmaster for the longest time. The entire attack just seemed so strange to Zatanna. She once was a hero herself and wasn't completely lost to the ways of villains. The fact that Sportsmaster had targeted this small town, found this exact bar, and focused his attack on Artemis, of all people, spoke volumes to Zatanna. Sportsmaster's objective in the attack was clear: Artemis. What the sorceress didn't understand though was why.

"Hey," Zatanna quickly added, "Why did Sportsmaster target you anyway?"

She watched her friend carefully, trained eyes picking up on the way that Artemis stilled for a moment before turning to regard the magician, "I don't know. I guess I just got in his way or something,"

"You sure you didn't piss him off or anything? He was pretty dead set on taking you out,"

The archer stiffened, an action that Zatanna was closely aware of. Her eyes didn't meet Zatannna's, focused on polishing the wooden bar, "Zatanna. Not now,"

"No," The magician said, hand darting out to cover Artemis's. The Vietnamese woman's eyes slowly met her friends, shock and anger painting her expression. She opened her mouth to say something but Zatanna cut her off before any words could come out, "No. He was going to _kill_ you, Artemis. I saw his face. He wanted blood. I know villians, I know the way they work, they don't go out of their way unless they have some higher motive, unless they have some sort of emotional connection," She paused, the silence between them taut and tense, "I'm asking you to tell me what that emotional connection is."

Once again, silence. Their eyes were trained, focused on each other. Neither one of them was giving up, neither one of them was backing down, and it was clear in the way they were looking at each other.

Finally, Artemis jerked her hand back, crossing her arms and staring down Zatanna, "Why should I tell you about my past? You haven't given me a hint about yours."

She scoffed, rising from the stool in anger, "My past? It's dangerous, Artemis! You're my best friend and I am not sucking you up in the fucked up shit that landed me here. It's different-"

"How? How is it different?" Artemis asked, her voice sharp, "I have a fucked up past too and I'm not telling you because I'm _not_ dragging you into it! It's the same thing, Zatanna, and you can't expect me to drag you into my drama if you won't drag me into yours!"

As they began yet another staredown, a revelation hit Zatanna; They were both running. A messed up string of events had brought them here, had forced both of them into hiding. They both had a fucked up past and, by refusing to tell each other, they were both refusing help. The only time that her life had gotten a little better since her father's death had been the time she'd spent with Artemis. Maybe the answer, maybe the only way out of this fucked out situation, was with her new best friend's help.

Slowly sliding into the seat on the bar again, she said, "You don't have to tell me yours but I'm telling you about mine," She took out her wallet and held out a picture of her father, sliding it across the bar towards Artemis, "This is my father. You probably know him as _Zatara_ \- That's my real last name, by the way. Once, I was fighting with Young Justice. I teamed up with them a few times and, long story short, I messed up. I put on this helmet. It gave this. . . this deity control of me. My father traded his freedom for mine," She took a ragged breath, not able to look at the photo anymore, "It's complicated but. . . he stopped being Zatara, he stopped being my dad, and he became Doctor Fate. You probably know him too," This part was the most difficult one and she had to prepare herself for it, gripping the counter of the bar as if it would keep her steady, "One day, he got into an accident. It was really bad. They didn't think that he would ever wake up. I was saying goodbye when Batman appeared. He and I. . . We made a deal. He would save my father if I ran, faked my death and never came back,"

The anger in Artemis' eyes was gone, replaced by a soft curiosity, "And did you?"

"Yes. I did it and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I faked my death, performed one of the most intricate spells possible to do it. It almost killed me, ironically enough, but it worked. I watched them lower my casket into the ground from a safe distance and then I ran. I've been running ever since."

For a beat, Zatanna was silent as she processed her story. It was never something that she'd talked about, not outloud, and it was kind of relieving to be able to say it outloud. There was some residual grief that crept up on her but it wasn't crushing, it wasn't the same sort of grief that had torn her apart when she'd first started running.

She was finally, for the first time, _okay_ , and the notion brought a smile to her face.

"But enough about me," She said, returning to her usual upbeat self, "I want to hear _your_ angsty backstory. Why are you here?"

"Well, it's simple enough," Artemis said, a tired sigh coming from her lips as she leaned against the counter, "Sportsmaster is my father and he wants me dead."

* * *

 _Mount Justice. October 10th 2015. 5:00 P.M._

"Where is the biotech?" Batman asked, voice gruff as the question filtered out into the tiny interrogation room.

"I told you," Lawrence Crock said from his seat in the center of the small, white room, "I don't have it."

There was a pang as Nightwing, standing directly behind Sportsmaster, hit one of the room's walls. It was an intimidation technique, an attempt to show how much power he had, but it didn't seem to work. Sportsmaster was a seasoned criminal and knew how to ignore them, throwing a smirk at the vigilante's direction instead.

"That's bulshit and we both know it," Nightwing said gruffly, "Now tell us where it is,"

"You know, bird boy, I'm telling the truth for once. I don't have it," Lawrence relaxed and leaned back in his chair, adding, "I'm looking for it myself. It was sniped, stolen from me, by this bitch. It's why I've been on the run-"

"You were running from us," Wally interjected, stepping into the conversation.

Rolling his swollen eyes, Sportsmaster said, "Don't flatter yourself. I've been chasing her down. Last I knew, she was spotted in an attack in Madison-"

Attack in Madison.

Those three words triggered Wally's memory. A seemingly random attack by Cheshire, a villain that didn't normally hang out in rural areas. She had been known to work closely with Sportsmaster so it made total sense that she could have taken the technology, stolen it for money or even leverage, and hit the road.

It was Cheshire. It had to be.

"He's telling the truth," Kid Flash said, looking at Batman and Nightwing, "He doesn't have it but I have a pretty good idea of who does."

* * *

 **I'm alive.**

 **Sorry about the absence! First semester of senior year started and I was swamped with scholarships and college apps and goodbyes (oh my!)**

 **But now that I know which college I'm going to and what's happening in my life, I'm good to go! I'm back here to finish these stories and write a few more before college starts (Probably a lot more during and after college tbh).**

 **I hope that you guys are willing to give this story (and me) another chance! :)**

 **Batman's strange request to Zatanna will be explained soon enough and in the next chapter, shit gets REAL.**

 **Please review!**


End file.
